Internet giant JD.com to join digital yuan pilot testing

The second-largest online retailer by turnover in China, JD.com, will be the first among the country’s e-commerce hubs to deploy the digital yuan, Bloomberg reports.

JD Digits, the fintech arm of the online commerce giant, will launch a pilot programme by year-end, allowing customers to pay for certain goods in the digital currency.

JD Digits will also assist the People’s Bank of China and local authorities in implementing the digital yuan distribution project among residents of Suzhou in the form of 100,000 “red envelopes” on December 11.

In October, a similar lottery took place in Shenzhen, where 50,000 residents won 200 yuan each (about $29.5).

Earlier, People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang stated that users completed more than 4 million transactions in the digital yuan as part of the pilot program rolled out in four cities. The total value of payments in the digital currency exceeded 2 billion yuan.

In April 2020 the regulator confirmed for the first time the start of testing of the digital yuan-based payment system (DCEP), although reports had appeared in December of the previous year.

How China managed to become a leader in monetary innovation thanks to the digital yuan (DCEP)

Commenting on the plans to integrate the central bank’s digital currency with the e-commerce platform JD.com, whose 2019 turnover was $82.9 billion, Dovey Wan, managing partner at Primitive Ventures, noted:

“Thanks to the support of e-commerce and payments giants from day one, DCEP will soon become the most widely used digital fiat in the world.”

NASDAQ: JD the second largest e-commerce platform in China with 82.9 billion net revenue of 2019, is going to accept DCEP as they just announced

Being supported by e-commerce and payment giants from day 1, DCEP will be the most widely transacted digital fiat in the globe soon

— Dovey 以德服人 Wan 🪐🦖 (@DoveyWan) December 5, 2020

Earlier, Dovey Wan stated that with the transition to the DCEP the central bank will gain even greater control over monetary policy.

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