A mobile wallet for using the digital yuan (e-CNY) could become a multifunctional super app. This view was voiced by Kevin Xu, GitHub’s senior director of international development strategy.
Our team @interconnect_ed updated our spreadsheet of all e-CNY patents filed by PBOC’s Digital Currency Research Institute, and found an oddly specific use case: parking appointment (row 150)
Looks like the e-CNY wallet is aiming to become a SuperApp. https://t.co/B7wmExfBGC pic.twitter.com/ClWEphdf1B
— KΞVIN XU (kevinxu.eth) (@kevinsxu) January 30, 2022
According to him, the Interconnected team updated the e-CNY patent list, compiled by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China.
“We found an unusual use case for the app: parking selection (row 150). It looks like the digital yuan wallet intends to become a super app,” Xu wrote.
On January 4, the Chinese authorities launched a pilot version of the mobile wallet for using e-CNY. The initiative’s developer is listed as the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China.
To download the app, you must be physically located in one of its testing sites: Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xi’an, Qingdao, Dalian, or the zone hosting the Winter Olympic Games.
The mobile wallet for using the digital yuan topped the app-store charts in its first week after launch.
On January 11, Bloomberg reported that China restricted payments via Alipay and WeChat in the Olympic Village where the e-CNY is being tested.
As reported in late January, Chinese food-delivery company Meituan allowed merchants among its partners to accept the digital yuan. Users paying with e-CNY were said to receive discount coupons.
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