China's Biggest Payment Firms Have No Plans to Follow Facebook into Crypto

China's internet giants appear unlikely to follow Facebook into the cryptocurrency space anytime soon - though you can be sure they're paying attention.

"Our stance on this hasn't changed," a spokesperson for the company told CoinDesk Tuesday, hours before Facebook officially unveiled its vision for Libra.

The reasons as to why payment giants in China may not consider cryptocurrency useful could go beyond just regulatory issues as the country's central bank banned cryptocurrency offerings in 2017.

Yan Meng, vice president of the Chinese Software Developer Network, who focuses on token economic research for the country's largest developer community, said Facebook's fragmented user base across the world leaves it with no better choice but to borrow.

Such methods may not be even replicable for payments firms in China, he argued, given their users predominantly come from one single economy using one type of fiat currency.

"China has already had a well-established payments settlement network so there may not be real demand for having a crypto stablecoin now."

To be sure, Facebook's services are still inaccessible under normal internet conditions for users based in China.

"With sufficient incentives, nodes of Facebook's Libra network would represent Facebook to push for utility in various countries for its 2.7 billion users in business, investment, trade and financial services," he wrote, going as far as arguing "These would help complete a full digital economy empire."

Immediately after Facebook released its Libra cryptocurrency plan, financial regulators in Europe have already voiced.

Concerns over the potential of Facebook running a "Shadow bank."