Technology
China begins testing sovereign digital currency on a grassy trip by Didi
(Reuters) China's central Bank is working with Didi Chuxing to test its digital currency, which could make the powerful china ride grinding platform one of the biggest corporate users worldwide of a virtual currency that has been developed by the government.
Didi reported in a statement on Wednesday that the PBOC's digital currency research unit is working with the Didi company to add electronic payment of digital monies, or DCEP, to the ride hailing app.
Didi said the partnership was in the atmosphere of the "government with innovative financial services aimed at encouraging the development of the real economic sectors."
Six years ago, China's central bank formed a research team to explore opportunities to launch a digital currency to lower tradition-style paper money circulation costs and to improve policymakers' monetary supply regulation.
The government said last year that the digital currency "almost ready" but in recent months, although they have carried out tests, they have said little about a launch schedule.
Didi said it represents more than 550 million users at the moment. Didi Chief Executive Cheng Wei said early in June that the ride-hailing order of the company had resumed in China at pre-pandemic rates before the second wave of local coronavirus cases reached Beeking.
Didi's highest daily order for ride-shared rides was over 30 million, Cheng said, adding that daily orders exceeded 10 million from Didi Bike, the service's bike-sharing service.
Source: Reuters; Reporting by Yingzhi Yang in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
