China’s digital currency: Meituan expands e-CNY payments to offline merchants ahead of Lunar New Year
- The Beijing-based on-demand service giant has started support e-CNY payments in offline stores
- The move will allow people to use the digital yuan in more day-to-day scenarios, says analyst
China’s leading on-demand services provider Meituan on Wednesday began allowing more than 200 types of offline merchants – including restaurants, grocery stores, cinemas, and hotels – to accept payments in digital yuan, also known as e-CNY.
The move marks another major step by the Beijing-based company to promote the country’s digital fiat money after enabling e-CNY payments for online food deliveries earlier this month. Meituan also said it would give out discount vouchers to consumers who pay with e-CNY.
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The company joins several other Big Tech companies that have started supporting the official digital currency ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics and Lunar New Year holiday, both beginning in the first week of February.
Social media and video gaming giant Tencent Holdings recently added e-CNY as a payment option to its electronic wallet service WeChat Pay, while e-commerce platform operator JD.com supports e-CNY payments for purchases made in online stores operated by the company.
Alipay, WeChat Pay’s main rival owned by Ant Group, has allowed e-CNY payments for eligible users since last year. Ant is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.
For now, though, the digital yuan can only be used in designated cities, including Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xian, Qingdao and Dalian, as well as Beijing and Winter Olympics venues outside the capital city.
Local governments in some of these cities have been giving away electronic cash through lotteries to encourage citizens to try out the e-CNY. In October 2020, Shenzhen issued 50,000 digital red packets worth 200 yuan (US$31.62) each. Two months later, Suzhou offered a total of 20 million digital yuan to 100,000 residents.
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Meituan’s latest move will allow people to use the digital yuan in various aspects of their daily lives, said Wang Pengbo, senior financial analyst at consultancy BoTong Analysys. “The digital renminbi has found a better way to integrate with common consumer scenarios, which will make it more inclusive and accessible.”
While China has yet to announce a formal timetable for the nationwide launch of e-CNY, officially known as Digital Currency and Electronic Payment, authorities aim to showcase its use during the Winter Olympics, when officials said foreign visitors would be able to use the digital yuan in event venues – even without a Chinese bank account.
