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Binance CEO claims WeChat uses blockchain to track payments

Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao has claimed that Chinese social network platform WeChat is using blockchain technology to track payments and receipts.

The 42-year-old wrote on Twitter: “Just got word that WeChat Pay in Shenzhen now puts receipts on the blockchain?”

The tweet was posted alongside a screenshot that appears to show a WeChat Pay interface with a link to a block explorer.

WeChat has been receptive to cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in the past, which was highlighted by a partnership with Coin Rivet earlier this year.

The legitimacy of the screenshot is currently unverified. However, the claim ties in with comments from China’s President Xi Jinping, who last week said that the nation will “seize the opportunity” to adopt blockchain technology.

WeChat Pay’s parent company, Tencent, revealed on Thursday that the launch of Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra, could pose a serious threat to its company.

A statement read: “It’s a safe play resorting to the strategy of ‘encircling the cities from the rural areas’, in which Libra coin could quickly enter markets with underdeveloped financial infrastructure, especially those that do not have a credible local currency of their own before it sets its foot in developed markets.”

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Oliver Knight

Londoner ‘Ollie’ graduated from Birmingham City University with a journalism degree in 2016. He combines his writing with his love of crypto and blockchain here at Coin Rivet, saying “It disrupts well-established institutions (banks) while giving an avenue to the less fortunate to achieve financial freedom.” Like all true Londoners, his pet hate is… “People standing on the left-hand side of the escalators on the Tube!”.