Soft Fork: The curious case of Q-coin

In 2002 Tencent Holdings, one of China’s Internet giants, launched its own digital currency, the Q-coin (sometimes referred to as QQ Coins) for its QQ social media platform.

The Q-coin was a virtual currency used on Tencent’s many online gaming platforms. Chinese gamers would buy physical prepaid cards and load up their digital wallets with Q-coins to buy digital weapons and virtual cosmetics items.