A spokesperson of the Chinese ride-hailing mobile service told CoinDesk in an email response that it has entered into a strategic partnership with the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) in an effort to accelerate the application of the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency), known as Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP.
“Under PBoC’s overall DCEP strategy and operation timeline, DiDi’s DCEP taskforce will design and implement pilot DCEP projects in accordance with rigorous safety, security and governance standards,” the firm said.
DiDi is currently the dominant ride-hailing mobile service in China, after merging with a notable local rival in 2015 and acquiring Uber China, backed by investments from SoftBank, Apple, Alibaba and Tencent since its establishment in 2012.
While the details of the roll-out are not yet clear, the pilot plan could see one of the first real applications of China’s digital Yuan initiative as Didi touts a reach of over 500 million users in China, offering taxi-hailing, private car hailing, automobile solutions, two-wheelers, logistics and delivery.
„Tendinţele pe care le-am remarcat înainte de începerea pandemiei s-au accelerat pe perioada stării de urgenţă. Am văzut acest lucru ca o oportunitate, un tipping point pentru bancă. Post-pandemie nu avem cum sa ne întoarcem la comportamentul financiar pe care îl aveam până în februarie a.c. Relaţia românilor cu online-ul s-a schimbat. In plus, cardul fizic se va dematerializa. Vom asista la o scădere a cererii pentru cardurile fizice, respectiv la o creştere a preferinţei pentru componenta digitală a acestora.”
