Tencent Partners with UnionPay Through Mobile Payment Integration

The collaboration between Tencent and UnionPay would allow Merchants accept payments from one customer using WeChat Pay and another using UnionPay QuickPass by presenting both the same scannable code. Tencent Holdings Ltd. and China UnionPay Co. announced that they plan to collect their mobile codes that users scan to pay for purchases. In that way, the Chinese central bank gets a much larger niche network of $ 27 trillion in payments.

Both companies decided to consolidate their QR code systems so that their users can transfer or spend their assets simply by using the same smartphone symbols. However, from the companies, they did not want to give more details. The Tencent representative said the company will work with UnionPay but only on a trial basis, while UnionPay declined to comment.

Growing electronic payments and concerns

This partnership could be a boost for UnionPay in the first place as it needs to occupy more of the market. For now, the Chinese payment market is mainly dominated by giants like Tencent or Alipay. In this way, depending on the agreement, customers will be able to use UnionPay Quickpass or WeChat Pay. Over the past few years, Alipay has come under fire from Tencent's rival bid.

However, not everything is easy for Tencent as well. In October of last year, this internet giant said it was quite concerned about the possible launch of the cryptocurrency Pound de Facebook .

He then called the Libra initiative "bold and radical"But also a" prudent and rational "move for the Silicon Valley giant. Then he said:

 “Any Internet company that has a relatively mature digital payment system. Like WeChat Pay and Alipay, it would be threatened by the stablecoin if it ever launched. "

Regarding state digital currencies

However, it is already known that China's central bank has also been working on its own national digital currency for the past few years. At the same time, it is banning cryptocurrency mining and trading.

However, neither Tencent nor Alibaba have been involved in any known cryptocurrency or trading projects. Alibaba Group said that the company is firmly against cryptocurrency exchanges that use its services as an input for the “Chinese customers fiduciary entry ramp in a peer-to-peer manner via over-the-counter trade".

While on the other hand in a statement WeChat said, “[The company] does not support crypto trading, and the platform has never been open to any category of cryptocurrencies. We invite users to report any crypto trading on our platform. Y collaborate proactively with authorities to crack down on such activities. "