The People's Bank of China (PBoC), the country's central bank, wants to test the use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) with China's largest food delivery giant Meituan Dianping backed by Tencent Holdings Ltd., Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.
It is reported that Meituan has been in talks with a research wing of the bank and the details of the collaboration have yet to be clarified.
Previously, iHodl reported that Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi also signed an agreement with the PBoC to test the digital yuan — officially known as the Digital Currency Electronic Payments (DCEP).
The company says the "DCEP will become a key infrastructure of the digital economy."
In June, the PBoC's National Council for Social Security Fund former Vice-chair, Wang Zhongmin, announced that China successfully completed development of DCEP's backend.
Wang also highlighted the COVID-19 pandemic intensified global digital currency competition. The former vice-chair of China's central bank believes that for China, the pandemic will give birth to new functions of digital currency.
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