Share this article
China to Test Digital Yuan on Tencent-Backed Food Delivery Platform
Now three Tencent-backed companies are setting themselves up to become early-stage testers for China’s digital yuan initiative.
By Paddy Baker
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 9:31 a.m. Published Jul 15, 2020, 9:15 a.m.
China wants to trial its digital yuan using online food seller Meituan-Dianping, as well as another two Tencent-backed companies.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
- 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.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Coinbase Sees Crypto Recovery Ahead as Liquidity Improves and Fed Rate Cut Odds Climb
The crypto exchange also took note of a so-called AI bubble that continues to go strong and a weaker U.S. dollar.
What to know:
- Coinbase Institutional is seeing a potential December recovery in crypto, citing improving liquidity and a shift in macroeconomic conditions that could favor risk assets like bitcoin.
- The firm's optimism is driven by rising odds of Federal Reserve rate cuts, with markets pricing in a 93% chance easing next week, and improving liquidity conditions.
- Several recent institutional developments, including Vanguard's crypto ETF policy reversal and Bank of America's greenlighting of crypto allocations, have contributed to bitcoin's rebound from recent lows.
Top Stories
