Over a decade ago, Alipay launched in China, promising easy online transactions for all. A few years later, Chinese super app WeChat introduced a similar mobile payment service called WeChat Pay to its millions of users. Today, the two platforms are ubiquitous on smartphones all over the country, driving a mobile-driven revolution that has made China one of the most cashless societies in the world. Those living there say they’ve survived for years without a wallet.7
China is home to about 1.4 billion people, and hundreds of millions of them rely on smartphones to pay for anything and everything. Most businesses have a QR code, which customers can scan with payment apps to make a purchase. This has become so widespread that the government has had to crack down on merchants who refuse cash payments from customers, stressing that the Chinese yuan is still the statutory currency and legal tender of China.
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China is home to about 1.4 billion people, and hundreds of millions of them rely on smartphones to pay for anything and everything. Most businesses have a QR code, which customers can scan with payment apps to make a purchase. This has become so widespread that the government has had to crack down on merchants who refuse cash payments from customers, stressing that the Chinese yuan is still the statutory currency and legal tender of China.
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Behind Cashless Economy, Mass Surveillance?
