You may have heard of Wechat, created by a company called Tencent. Wechat is a messaging platform that people use for with businesses and personal life alike. But do you know how it’s really used by the Chinese people in Cryptocurrency? Here are some real-life examples:
Alipay
Despite the ban on trading coins, there is still off- exchange transactions going on in Alipay, or Alibaba’s mobile payment app. The China National Internet Financial Risk Technology Platform have been able to monitor off -exchange bitcoin transactions and trace them to user accounts. Among them, off-exchange transaction monitoring shows user IDs and payment methods. Alipay accounts for almost one-third of these off-exchange transactions.
Below is a video from youtube on how that is happening using Wechat and Alipay (a little unpolished, but insightful nonetheless)
But Recently in China, five high-level regulatory agencies in China – including the People's Bank of China and the Banking Regulatory Commission – issued a warning against any cryptocurrency-related fundraising and trading activities.
In a release published by Tencent, the parent company of WeChat Pay, not long after the news came out, the company said that it has come up with three main measures to regulate any "problematic" platforms related to ICOs and cryptocurrencies.
Specifically, the tech giant said that it will prohibit users from using WeChat payments to make any virtual currency-related transactions. Moreover, it will conduct both real-time monitoring of daily transactions and risk assessment of any suspicious transactions.
At the same time, in an exclusive interview, a local news outlet based in Beijing, Alibaba Group affiliate Ant Financial, which owns Alipay, said that depending on the situation, it will restrict or permanently ban any personal Alipay accounts that are involved in cryptocurrency transactions.
Photo link by:Sampi Makreting China