Triffin Dilemma: How the US Genius Act Could Trigger a 'Digital Nixon Shock

Summary

Recently, I met someone who is fluent in Chinese through Skewer Coaching. We talked about apps that are frequently used in China, and I told them about the ones I have used. Even those who don’t know much about China have probably heard of WeChat. There is even a joke that you can’t do almost anything in China without WeChat. Ordering food, calling a taxi, shopping, making payments, and even using government services can all be done within WeChat. Compared to KakaoTalk or Naver, which are commonly used in Korea, it offers a much wider range of functions within a single app. Is this “super app” phenomenon in China simply because Chinese people prefer convenience? Or is there another reason? When explaining the differences between Eastern and Western app design, it is often said that "Asians like apps with a lot of information and complexity, while Westerners prefer simple apps." However, this is not actually the case. Recently, apps in Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan have also gradually changed to a cleaner and simpler design. Nevertheless, why have super apps become so strong in China? The starting point of the 'mobile first' era that began with smartphones In the early 2010s, the Internet was not yet fully established in China. At that time, the Internet penetration rate in China was less than 35%, and there were not many people using desktop computers. In this situation, smartphones became the first personal computing devices for Chinese consumers. Since the mobile-centric Internet environment was built from the beginning, existing Internet habits were not formed. For example, in the US and Europe, desktop-based Internet usage habits such as web browsers and emails were already established, but in China, mobile apps were mainstream from the beginning. This gap was filled by Tencent's WeChat. WeChat started as a messenger, but began to provide almost all Internet services through 'Official Accounts' and 'Mini Programs'. In fact, WeChat is like a bro...