Bingxi Culture Works With Alipay For Art Sharing, Razer Pay Sees Interest From Brands

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes the launch of China’s Bingxi Culture “art sharing” platform that enables people to lease out art using Alipay. In addition, Razer’s mobile wallet dubbed Razer Pay may come to tens of thousands of point-of-sale (POS) terminals in Singapore, and a Worldpay study has found that consumers in Singapore still prefer to make payments with credit cards over eWallets.

Razer’s mobile wallet, Razer Pay, might come to tens of thousands of Singapore’s point-of-sale (POS) terminals, The Straits Times reported. The goal is to enable “full interoperability by the time Razer Pay launches in Singapore in Q1 2019,” according to the company. At the same time, brands such as WTS Travel, Sistic and Reebonz are reportedly teaming with Razer in order to make their systems compatible with Razer Pay. Razer Chief Tan Min Liang said, according to the paper, “since we announced our intention to launch Razer Pay by the first quarter of 2019, we’ve seen tremendous interest from businesses in Singapore to collaborate with us.”

On another note, Worldpay’s Global Payments Report noted that consumers in Singapore still prefer to pay with credit cards when they make purchases through stores and eCommerce, The Straits Times reported. While credit cards made up about two thirds or 67 percent of payments, eWallets represented only 10 percent of payments. The report noted, “despite the country’s tech-savvy culture and high smartphone adoption rate, e-wallets haven’t changed payment habits yet, although they do contend with bank transfer for second-place share online.” At the same time, only 13 percent of adult smartphone users in the U.S. have used Apple Pay at any point time, according to a study, while 24 percent of adult smartphone users have used Walmart Pay.

And, in China, Bingxi Culture has rolled out a platform for “art sharing” to enable artists to lease art through Alipay, Technode reported. The service allows art-seekers to borrow pieces for as short as a one-week period and offers items ranging from a modernist painting to bracelets. In order to use Alipay, however, consumers must pay a “sizable deposit,” according to the outlet. But consumers who have high scores from Sesame Credit may not have to pay the deposit. The offering comes amid a booming art market: last year, a series of paintings called “Twelve Landscape Screens” from Qi Baishi sold for $141 million to a Chinese bidder.