China’s ByteDance, an internet firm and the owner of the short video app TikTok, has launched its own third-party mobile payment service called “Douyin Pay”.
Douyin Pay is the Chinese version of the TikTok app, the video-sharing app known in China as Douyin.
The launch of Douyin Pay is in line with the company’s aim to expand into the country’s e-commerce space.
In a statement, ByteDance said: “The set-up of Douyin Pay is to supplement the existing major payment options, and to ultimately enhance user experience on Douyin.”
Douyin has 600 million daily active users who could use Ant Group’s Alipay and Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay, previously.
They used these two payment platforms to shop or buy virtual gifts for live streamers.
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By GlobalDataThe latest development comes after the country pledged to tighten the ‘prudential oversight’ of Ant Group and other online platforms, earlier this month.
The launch of Douyin Pay follows ByteDance’s acquisition of Wuhan Hezhong Yibao Technology last year.
Hezhong Yibao obtained its payment licence from the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the country’s central bank, in 2014.
Douyin is said to be the main revenue generator for ByteDance.
The company began selling merchandise online in 2017 and hundreds of millions of users buy these products every day.
However, days before Joe Biden’s inauguration, the Trump administration ordered ByteDance to offload its US assets – also banning eight other Chinese payments apps – citing national security concerns.
ByteDance is now in talks with retail giant Walmart and Oracle to move its assets to a new entity.
