Shang­hai-based fin­tech vet­eran Rich Tur­rin says that the wide­spread adop­tion of dig­i­tal pay­ments in China has played an in­stru­men­tal role in the coun­try’s ef­forts to con­tain the spread of COVID-19 through­out the first quar­ter of 2020.

In an in­ter­view with China Bank­ing News Tur­rin said the surg­ing pop­u­lar­ity of Ali­Pay and WeChat Pay last decade has not only trans­formed daily eco­nomic ac­tiv­ity China – it has also re­sulted in the de­vel­op­ment of an ac­com­pa­ny­ing lo­gis­tics net­works that greatly abet­ted ef­forts to com­bat the novel coro­n­avirus.

“We make the fun­da­men­tal mis­take of think­ing that con­tact­less or mo­bile pay­ment is just a re­ally nice and con­ve­nient way to pay money from one point to the other,” said Tur­rin.
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