China’s ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing has unveiled a new digital yuan service that will let citizens in 250 parts of the nation use their CBDC coins to rent motorcycles.
Per the Xi’an Business News Network, the move involves the Didi Chuxing affiliate Didi Qingjue, which operates an app-powered motorcycle-sharing service.
Previous developments have seen Didi Chuxing affiliates offer digital yuan-holding customers CBDC payment options for bicycles and Uber-like ride-hailing services.
Users in the pilot zone will now be able to choose the e-CNY as a payment option in the Didi Chuxing app, as well as launching quick CBDC payment options on mobile widgets when hiring motorbikes.
Didi was one of the first private sector transport operators to join the e-CNY project, launching a bicycle-sharing pilot back in June 2020.
The firm formed a “strategic cooperation agreement” with the Digital Currency Research Institute, the central People’s Bank of China’s CBDC arm.
At the time, the parties agreed to “jointly study and explore the application of the digital yuan in the field of smart travel.”
China’s Didi Exploring Digital Yuan Pay Options
Didi said its latest move would help boost adoption and provide more payment options for its customers, adding that it would “continue to promote the application of the digital yuan in the travel sector.”
Chinese state-run public transport operators have been among the country’s most active CBDC adopters: Some of the very first “real-world” e-CNY transactions were made by civil servants on public bus routes.
In recent years, adoption has expanded to city metro systems, rail networks, and highway toll booths. In the city of Jinan, the entire bus network now accepts digital yuan payments.
Some inter-city rail networks have also been adapted to accept e-CNY pay, particularly in the parts of the nation that hosted the Asian Games earlier this month.
In the B2B world, meanwhile, Chinese banks have been creating digital yuan-powered supply chain financing solutions that make use of e-CNY smart contract technology.