The Beijing Winter Olympics have already become a significant historic event. It is the first Winter Olympics in the pandemic era, with the largest number of countries participating in history of the Winter Games. Beijing became the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics. However, the use of digital currency has become the most notable feature.
China provided digital yuan payment services, known as e-CNY, to the Beijing Winter Olympics visitors. The digital wallet app was launched on the eve of the 2022 Olympics. It has been downloaded more than 30 million times. Chinese experts estimate that the number of wallet users on Huawei-branded phones has reached 13.29 million. On Vivo, Xiaomi, and OPPO-branded phones, the number of users was 10.8 million, 5.33 million, and 1.85 million respectively. The e-CNY app can also be downloaded on the iPhone. However, there is no information about how many downloads were for this brand.
"The app, independent from other domestic bank apps, can directly provide a payment platform for users, while better serving the major scenarios of the Beijing Winter Olympics and expanding the profile of the yuan," Wang Peng, an assistant professor at the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at the Renmin University of China, said.
During the Beijing Winter Olympics users can enjoy convenient services, including transportation, catering, accommodation, and other tourist services with the app. More importantly, the number of digital yuan users will increase through this event. "The use of digital currency at the Winter Olympics will pave the way for the large-scale adoption of the electronic yuan on a national scale in the next few years," Wang Peng commented.
