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Is the Libra digital coin just Facebook’s version of Tencent’s QQ coin?
Chinese netizens are unimpressed with Facebook’s blockchain project as Tencent’s Pony Ma and Sogou’s Wang Xiaochuan weigh in
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Nobody is further ahead in mobile payments than China. The country has 583 million users of mobile payments, or 71.4% of all mobile internet users in the country. Paying with cash has practically become a faux pas.
This is why many people in China are not impressed by Facebook’s new cryptocurrency Libra, saying that similar products have long existed in China.
The new digital coin is built on blockchain, which can supposedly make it easier and cheaper for users to move money across different countries. Different from volatile cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Libra is meant to be what’s called a “stablecoin,” which in this case means it will be backed by a basket of major currencies and securities to minimize price volatility.
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“Isn’t this the Facebook version of QQ coin?” asked one Weibo user, whose comment drew hundreds of likes. The user is referring to digital money created by Tencent in 2002, which retails at one yuan (US$0.14) per coin. It lets users shop for virtual products that can be used in Tencent games and services, and sometimes real products. Users can also transfer QQ coins to each other.
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“Congratulations to the US for entering the era of QQ coin/WeChat/Alipay,” another person said on Q&A site Zhihu in a post that received 300 upvotes.
Zhihu, where people in China go to ask questions and get answers
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