Beijing's Digital Currency Push at Winter Olympics Puts Visa in a Bind (wsj.com) 13
The Beijing Winter Olympics is giving Visa a run for its money. From a report: For decades, America's largest card network has been the exclusive electronic-payments provider at the world's largest sporting event. At this year's Beijing Games, however, Visa finds itself having to share the spotlight with China's new digital currency, the e-CNY. China has been at the forefront of digitizing payments, thanks in large part to the popular mobile networks Alipay and WeChat Pay, operated by Chinese internet giants Ant Group and Tencent Holdings, respectively. The mass adoption of digital payments in the world's most populous nation has made the use of physical cash virtually obsolete -- a trend that has alarmed China's central bank, which has been conducting small-scale rollout trials for its digitized legal tender since late 2019. At previous Olympics, cash and Visa cards were the only two permitted forms of payment, though the former diminished in usage at the sporting venues after the 2004 Olympics in Athens, according to people familiar with the matter, with nearly all payments having moved to Visa. That has generally held true at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, with Alipay, WeChat Pay and other electronic-payment methods barred as part of the exclusivity guaranteed by Visa's sponsorship.
- Didn't MIT & FED create the Hamilton?! (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
That's a shame (Score:5, Insightful)
Good that Visa is being pushed out (Score:4, Insightful)
The Olympics is all about making as much money for the IOC as possible, the athletics is just a tool to generate it. Visa having a monopoly (no other credit cards allowed) is bad -- monopolies should not be allowed. So if this starts to break the monopoly then good. Unfortunately I do not expect this to have much affect outside of China.
and local laws can't override? venue contracts? (Score:2)
and local laws can't override? venue contracts?
Re:and local laws can't override? venue contracts? (Score:5, Interesting)
and local laws can't override?
Local laws certainly can override. And if you tell them you will be doing that, you don't get the Games. They choose another city. You have to agree in writing in advance not to do that, in a way that's binding in your own jurisdiction, or no Games for you.
IOC has been running their little racket for quite some time now. They're quite good at it.
Perhaps cities will eventually wise up and demand a cut of all the money IOC has been grifting so they stop outright losing money on hosting the Games.
Re:Good that Visa is being pushed out (Score:4, Insightful)
You realize that VISA *pays* the IOC for the privilege of being the sole-credit-card-sponsor right?
This is a negotiation for every Olympics. If Mastercard/Discover/AmEx paid more than VISA, then the IOC would choose them instead.
So yes there’s a monopoly. One *sold* by IOC to make the most money for the IOC. This “breakage” by China certainly hurts VISA a bit, and hypothetically hurts the IOC in their future contract negotiations.
— But it was probably also a part of the pitch that China gave when they secured the bid for this Olympics event. So if anybody was surprised by this, it was due to sloppiness on the IOC’s part, or somehow China changing the terms after the fact.
In any event, this isn’t “pushing VISA out” in any meaningful way.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
The Olympics is all about making as much money for the IOC as possible, the athletics is just a tool to generate it. Visa having a monopoly (no other credit cards allowed) is bad -- monopolies should not be allowed. So if this starts to break the monopoly then good. Unfortunately I do not expect this to have much affect outside of China.
What would you do to fix the Olympics? Replace the IOC with a non-profit organization, have it do something like transparently distribute its profits to athletes and sports organizations?
Maybe we can make athletes pay us to watch them, that might work.
Fucking paywall. (Score:3, Informative)
Beijing’s Digital Currency Push at Winter Olympics Puts Visa in a Bind
For decades, the U.S. card giant was the only electronic-payments provider at the Games. Not this time.
People can make purchases inside the Beijing Olympics bubble with Visa cards, China’s UnionPay mobile app, or the e-CNY.
Photo: Timmy Huynh/WSJ
By
Jing Yang in Beijing and
AnnaMaria Andriotis in New York
Updated Feb. 9, 2022 7:09 am ET
The Beijing Winter Olympics is giving Visa Inc. a run for its money.
For decades, America’s largest card network has been the exclusive electronic-payments provider at the world’s largest sporting event. At this year’s Beijing Games, however, Visa finds itself having to share the spotlight with China’s new digital currency, the e-CNY.
China has been at the forefront of digitizing payments, thanks in large part to the popular mobile networks Alipay and WeChat Pay, operated by Chinese internet giants Ant Group Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., respectively. The mass adoption of digital payments in the world’s most populous nation has made the use of physical cash virtually obsolete—a trend that has alarmed China’s central bank, which has been conducting small-scale rollout trials for its digitized legal tender since late 2019.
At previous Olympics, cash and Visa cards were the only two permitted forms of payment, though the former diminished in usage at the sporting venues after the 2004 Olympics in Athens, according to people familiar with the matter, with nearly all payments having moved to Visa.
That has generally held true at the Beijing 2022 Olympics, with Alipay, WeChat Pay and other electronic-payment methods barred as part of the exclusivity guaranteed by Visa’s sponsorship.
The e-CNY, however, is a glaring exception.
The Beijing 2022 Olympics, a top political priority for leader Xi Jinping, is also the digital currency’s largest pilot to date. Conducted in a tightly controlled bubble that insulates athletes and tens of thousands of other event participants from the rest of the country, the Winter Games have been touted as a coming-out party of sorts for the e-CNY.
Visa has long been the sole top-tier sponsor in the payment category of the Olympics.
Photo: TYRONE SIU/REUTERS
The Chinese government says all points of sale within the bubble can accept the digital yuan. There are also automated teller machines that let people exchange foreign bank notes for e-CNY that is stored on a physical card, which can then be used to make payments. Users who top up larger sums of e-CNY can also receive free gadgets such as a wearable device loaded up with the digital currency. The digital yuan’s value is the same as Chinese notes and coins.
The red signage of the e-CNY inside the Olympic bubble is also often displayed just below Visa’s logo at points of sale.
It is unclear if this poses a conflict with Visa’s Olympic sponsorship rights. The U.S. card network had long been the sole top-tier sponsor in the payment category of the Olympics. Top-tier sponsors typically pay hundreds of millions of dollars every few quadrennial game cycles. San Francisco, Calif.-based Visa signed its most recent sponsorship renewal contract in 2018, in a deal that runs through 2032.
A Chinese-language newspaper called the Financial Times that is run by China’s central bank has said that since the e-CNY is legal tender, it doesn’t constitute a conflict.
The red signage of the e-CNY inside the Olympic bubble.
Photo: Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images
The strict segregation between this year’s Games venue and the rest of society—and the absence of many foreign spectators—already means Visa and other sponsors are benefiting less from the ordinary flow of consumers and tourists to the host city.
China so far hasn’t disclosed any e-CNY transaction numbers inside the Olympic bubble.
Last Friday, signif
Tired of the commercials anyway (Score:1)
Visa Only? (Score:2)
So previously you couldn't pay with a Mastercard at the Olympics? I've never had *any* type of bank card transaction denied at a shop/event before. Is that even legal, or is this a US-only thing?