China wants to trial its digital yuan using online food seller Meituan-Dianping, as well as another two Tencent-backed companies.
The Beijing-based company has held talks with the research wing at the People's Bank of China (PBoC) over trialing the digital yuan on their platform, according to sources speaking to Bloomberg.
The exact details of the collaboration are not yet known; the digital yuan is formally known as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP).
Listed in Hong Kong, Meituan-Dianping's 400 million active users make it one of the largest food delivery platforms in the world; revenues in 2019 increased nearly 50% to RMB97.5 billion (~$14 billion).
It is backed by internet giant Tencent, which had a 20% equity stake just before the 2018 initial public offering and remains a major investor.
Tencent, which also owns popular messaging and payments app WeChat, is set to be one of the primary commercial issuers for the digital yuan when it goes live.
It has also set aside billions of dollars to invest in new technologies, including blockchain.
Two other Tencent-backed companies are also said to be in advanced talks with PBoC.
This includes video-streaming platform Bilibili, according to Bloomberg sources, which received a $300 million commit from Tencent in late 2018.
Last week, ride-hailing startup Didi Chuxing said it would trial the digital yuan as a new payment option; Tencent invested $15 million in 2013.