Meituan sees an 18-fold daily increase in digital RMB users as China’s digital yuan app goes live

The food delivery giant Meituan has seen a daily increase by 18 times in its users switching to digital RMB for online payments since the beta version of China’s digital yuan wallet application went live on 4 January. The total number of daily transactions made in the digital currency on Meituan has also grown by 15% as of 7 January, as per the Chinese media outlet Beijing Youth Daily.

The platform had been delivering more than 43 million takeaway orders daily, as according to Meituan’s third-quarter report in 2021. It can be expected now that a large value would be converted into digital currency with the interest continuing to grow, showing not only a willingness to adopt the new digital currency but also the potential for increased business for Meituan as more move to the new RMB.

It is also understood that takeaway is the first application scenario that fully adopts digital yuan in China. Not only could the digital currency be used to pay for food orders, users who opted for the new payment method can also enjoy discounts paid in digital yuan in the format of electronic “red packets”. Such incentives available in an app that offers essential day-to-day services have naturally quickly drawn in many users to opt-in this new system, speeding up the rollout of the digital yuan.

The pilot version of the e-CNY app was developed by the People’s Bank of China’s digital currency research institute and the release is another step forward by the authority to push the rollout of its own digital currency.

The app is available for download on Chinese Android and Apple devices. However, only users in testing regions are eligible to register accounts. The service has now been made available in 11 regions and cities in China, including the venue for Beijing Winter Olympics (Beijing and Zhangjiakou), ready for visitors from both home and overseas to experience the pilot program during the international event.

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