According to the Reuters report, the People’s Bank of China is partnering with the ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing to test the use of its national digital currency. This could make China’s dominant ride-hailing platform, one of the world’s first corporate users of a government-created virtual currency. The central bank of China has been working on its national digital currency for the last five to six years and is now very close to issuing it to the general public.
China is testing its national digital currency in four cities.
Didi said the partnership occurred in an atmosphere where the government seeks to support the development of the real economy sectors with innovative financial services. The national digital currency is currently being tested in four cities in the country. China’s central bank set up a research team six years ago to explore the possibility of launching its own digital currency to cut the costs of circulating traditional paper money and boost policymakers’ control of money supply. Government officials had said earlier that the digital currency was “almost ready” but have said little about a launch timetable in recent months though it has been carrying out tests.
China to become the first major nation to issue its national currency.
China is all set to become the world’s first major nation to issue its own national digital currency. The People’s Bank of China reportedly accelerated its process to issue the national digital currency. Several experts have claimed that the digital version of yuan could threaten the global dominance of the US Dollar. Several other countries are also working on their national digital currencies, including Japan, Canada, and many European countries.
The ride-hailing company said it currently serves a total of over 550 million users. Before the second wave of the COVID-19 cases hit Beijing, Didi’s chief executive Cheng Wei said in early June that the platform’s ride-hailing orders in China had returned to pre-pandemic levels.
