China restricted payments using WeChat and Alipay in Olympic Village

This was done as a part of a project to test the digital yuan

13.01.2022 - 08:00

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What’s new? According to Bloomberg, the Chinese authorities have decided to restrict access to the popular payment platforms from WeChat and Alipay within the Olympic Village. For the duration of the Olympics, the payments will be made using cash and digital yuan (e-CNY).

News source on the Bloomberg website

How will the e-CNY test take place? The spectators and participants of the Olympics will be able to download a mobile wallet or get a physical card. Buying the digital yuan will be available at the special terminals placed in the Olympic Village. As for the athletes, the Olympic organizers will give them special digital bracelets, which they will use to pay for the purchases in various shops.

This project has been implemented to conduct the full-scale testing of e-CNY and a pilot version of the wallet. The main developer of the new digital asset and payment infrastructure is the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China.

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