Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is reportedly to help the nation’s central bank develop infrastructure for its cash-equivalent digital currency.
Reported by local media on Monday, the People's Bank of China has reached a strategic cooperation agreement with JD.com to co-develop mobile and blockchain technology platforms for the digital yuan initiative.
The two entities will work together to develop on- and offline functionality for the products, which will include a digital wallet.
JD.com will further use its group to promote the new services, per the article.
The news comes as the latest instance of the People's Bank working with commercial enterprises on the digital yuan project, more formally dubbed "digital currency electric payment" (DCEP).
Six years in the making, DCEP is now reportedly being tested at state-owned banks, several companies backed by Tencent and "Chinese Uber" Didi.
The digital currency is expected to act as cash in China, being used for retail payments via mobile apps.
The central bank recently played down rumors of a property transaction settled with DCEP, saying that current testing has revolved around smaller transactions so far.
The prime online retailer rival to Alibaba in China, JD.com is a NASDAQ-100 and a Fortune Global 500 company with revenue of close to $83 billion in 2019.