Tencent doubling down on remittances highlights two key payments trends 💸🇨🇳; El Salvador is a case study in crypto's structural problems 🇸🇻; Reddit is crushing the NFT game. Again! 🚀
FinTech is Eating the World, 5 December
Hey Everyone,
And happy Monday! I hope you managed to relax over the weekend as there’s definitely something interesting that’s been cooking 🧑🍳 Today we’re looking at Tencent which is doubling down on remittances (& two key payments trends it highlights + why it matters), El Salvador, which is a case study in crypto's structural problems (we don’t deserve a better financial system unless we solve this), and Reddit, which is crushing the NFT game again (their strategy is so simple it’s brilliant!). Let’s jump straight into the interesting stuff:
Tencent doubling down on remittances highlights two key payments trends 💸🇨🇳
The news 🗞 Last week I briefly covered Tencent whose FinTech arm, Tencent Financial Technology, has launched Tenpay Global to house all of its cross-border payment products. Many have ignored this development, so let’s a brief look at why it matters and why it could be big.
Some context ♻️ The Tenpay Global brand consolidates a suite of business and consumer cross-border payment products and solutions to serve different customer segments, including e-commerce platforms, global corporate, and individual customers, as well as customers seeking personal remittance services.
The launch 🚀 With the new launch, Tenpay Global will now let Weixin users (WeChat users in mainland China) receive remittances from Tencent’s global money transfer partners - such as Remitly and Wise - directly to their wallets. Previously, users could only receive remittances to cards linked to Weixin.
Why this matters? 🤔 First, it’s obvious that facing heavy regulatory pleasure in China, Tencent (and its rival Ant Group) are actively looking for ways to diversify its business. But more importantly, Tencent’s quest to double down on remittances indicates two key payments trends.
Here’s more on that, why it matters + the takeaway: