China is becoming a cashless society, and relevant research on legislation will be a major task for the country in the coming years as a security baseline for the cash-free environment, said an expert.

Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communications Law Research Center at the China University of Political Science and Law, made the remarks during a recent interview with Legal Daily.

Compared with the past when people had to spend much time counting money and stacking up torn bills, the current solution of mobile payment has substantially facilitated both the sellers and buyers.

Today, many Chinese consumers pay their bills by scanning QR codes. According to Liu Xiaona, the owner of a Beijing beverage shop, cashless payment has saved her time and energy, allowing her to devote more time to her business.

By the end of last December, over half of all offline customers in China paid their bills via mobile phone, according to the China Statistical Report on Internet Development issued by China Internet Network Information Center. The figure stood at 43.5% and 38% in fourth- and fifth-tier cities, respectively.

A report said that the gross merchandise value of China’s third-party mobile payment has surged to 38 trillion yuan, 50 times of that in the U.S., predicting that China would become the world’s first cashless society a decade later.

Insiders point out that China’s leading mobile payment solution and its popularization serve as an excellent template for other countries.

Dong Yanling, a scholar with Shandong University of Finance and Economics, noted that cashless payment reduces the need to print, issue, and record banknotes. In addition, theft and robbery will be reduced as the service expands.

However, whether the country can establish a secure payment environment is an unavoidable challenge, said Xu Hao, a lawyer with a Beijing-based law firm. He pointed out that this environment determines the progress of China’s cashless payment.

After mobile payment has been integrated into the public service system, issues such as malicious QR codes, monitoring system loopholes, and recovery of unauthorized spending have become a focus of public concern.

“Early prevention, responsibility of distribution, and loss compensation are three major tasks,” Xu stressed, adding that security would be an empty concept without implementing these three tasks.

Dong believes that payment platforms, given their strong bargaining power, should take more responsibility if economic losses happen to their users. By doing this, these platforms will be forced to pay more attention to security issues and reduce loopholes.