Advertisement
China digital currency
TechBig Tech

China’s digital yuan: e-CNY wallet tops download charts in Apple and Xiaomi app stores ahead of Lunar New Year

  • The e-CNY wallet was the most downloaded app after launching last week, but the roll-out remains limited to select cities
  • While the digital yuan can be used on mobile payment apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay, the dedicated app has maintained momentum with discounts and red packets

Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
1
A Suzhou resident uses the e-CNY smartphone app during a trial on December 14, 2020. Photo: Kyodo
Coco FengandChe Pan

China’s digital yuan wallet app has become one of the country’s most downloaded apps within just a week of launching, a development that could disrupt a consumer payment market dominated by Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Downloads of the e-CNY app, which currently operates in select cities, exceeded those of WeChat, the super app from Tencent Holdings with its own mobile payment function, to become the most popular app on Apple’s iOS on Wednesday, a day after landing in app stores, according to market researcher App Annie. It retained the top spot through Saturday before falling to second place behind Kuaishou.

By Monday, the app was the second most downloaded financial app in Xiaomi’s app store, after topping the list last Wednesday, according to market researcher Qimai. However, it ranked just 43rd in Huawei’s store on Monday, 10 spots higher than the previous day. Both stores are popular options for Android users in mainland China, where Google Play is blocked.

The e-CNY app’s popularity could be a positive sign for efforts from the People’s Bank of China to promote its central bank digital currency (CBDC), officially called the Digital Currency and Electronic Payment (DCEP), ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics next month.

The central bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute, which developed the app, has been studying the implementation of a digital yuan for years. Trials of the digital yuan started in 2020, and the institute has partnered with local authorities to hand out e-yuan red packets to citizens in ten pilot cities, including Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiongan, Chengdu, Suzhou and Winter Olympics venues in Beijing.

While the app is broadly available for download, it is currently only usable in designated cities.

The payment turnover and user base of the digital yuan is still tiny compared with the mobile payment titans WeChat Pay and Alipay, which is owned by Ant Group, the fintech affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post. Together, the two entrenched tech giants make up 90 per cent of China’s mobile payments market.

Advertisement