Tencent opens its WeChat Pay wallet to digital yuan

Tencent Holdings Ltd announced on Thursday that it now supports digital yuan payment through its proprietary mobile wallet WeChat Pay.

WeChat users can now choose to pay with "digital renminbi", a newly-added access point embedded in WeChat Pay.

To do that, people need first to go through identity authentication via the e-CNY app, the digital yuan wallet application developed by the central bank. The pilot version of the app was launched earlier this week.

Once activated, the function allows users to receive and pay with the digital currency in WeChat.

The company also said it will explore novel digital yuan payment experience in the Beijing's Winter Olympic Village, which is set to be open on Jan 27.