July 15 , 2011

According to a latest report, Sina Weibo (literally “Sina microblog”) will issue its virtual currency to minorities in this third quarter and then promote to all later. It is said that besides the products and services provided by Sina Weibo itself, the currency can also be used to pay for the products and services provided by other third parties, which could mean Sina will rely on third-party applications to increase its income in the future, since Weibo credit is to be bought by RMB with an equivalent amount. However, the questions as for whether Weibo credit is compulsive or whether other payment methods will be removed are still not certain yet.

On May 26 this year, People’s Bank of China (China’s central bank) released the first batch of 27 companies who succeeded in obtaining China’s payment business license. Sina was not listed then and probably is stepping up efforts now. The payment license issued by China’s central bank involves many payment transactions, mainly including Internet payment, mobile payment, bank card acquiring service, issuance and accept of prepaid cards, and currency exchange.