PM Lee’s Singapore National Day Rally — Singapore Lagging behind e-payments makes cryptocurrency even more promising
When it comes to electronic payments, the Republic trails behind other cities, including those in China, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Aug 20).
He noted that Chinese visitors would ask why Singapore was “so backward” when they realised that they had to use cash for transactions here.
Instead, the favoured payment modes are WeChat Pay and Alipay — where apps are linked to bank accounts. Payment can be made simply by picking up a phone and scanning a QR code.
In his National Day Rally speech, Mr Lee shared an anecdote about Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say buying chestnuts from a roadside hawker stall in Shanghai a few years ago. With a wave of their mobile phones, the customers ahead of Mr Lim took their chestnuts and left. No cash traded hands.
“Being Singaporean, he thought there must be some special offer. So when it was his turn, he confidently said, ‘I don’t need the special offer, I will pay the full price in cash!’” said M Lee. The hawker shot Mr Lim a quizzical look and pointed to a QR code at the stall. It was only then that the minister realised that payment was only through WeChat Pay, and he had to scan the QR code to complete the transaction.
“He was the suaku one,” said Mr Lee, using a colloquial term to describe an ignorant person.
From buying snacks at roadside stalls to tipping waiters at restaurants, nearly all transactions in China can be paid through e-payment platforms these days, said Mr Lee.
Even though Singapore has e-payment platforms as well, the different schemes and systems have caused inconvenience for consumers and incurred costs for businesses.
Calling for systems to be simplified and integrated, Mr Lee said: “People have to carry multiple cards, and businesses must install multiple readers … the result is, most of us still prefer cash and cheques — six in 10 transactions.”
Check out Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan’s pitch to Singapore PM via twitter below.
During his speech, the prime minister said that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is working on integrating different payment services into one. In the continuing bid to go cashless, the country’s Association of Banks recently rolled out a service called PayNow, which allows users to transfer money from one bank to another using their mobile phone and identity card numbers.
Razer has its own ewallet service and digital currency called zGold, created for in-game transactions. In June, it bought a 19.9 percent stake in Malaysian gaming payments provider MOL to convert its Southeast Asia-wide cashless payment system into its zGold service.
This deeply solidifies the position of cryptocurrency in Singapore and opens alot of opportunities to develop futher.
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