Inset: A Bitcoin

The Digital Currency Institute under China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBC), recently announced a recruitment plan for the research and development (R&D) of its state-run digital currency, which has been considered the first of its kind across the world, reports said.

The recruitment plan is designed for those master and doctoral graduates in 2021 and 2022, and applicants who studied computer science, economics, finance and math majors will be preferred, according to a report from domestic economic news site 21jingji.com.

China's central bank began launching studies on creating an official digital currency in 2014. Together with commercial banks and other related institutions, the PBC started R&D into a "digital renminbi system" at the end of 2017 with permission from the State Council, China's cabinet.

Yi Gang, governor of the PBC, said in late May that the internal pilot tests of the central bank's digital currency have been carried out in four cities, including Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province, and Xiongan New Area, and will also be carried out in certain scenarios for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Although there's no timetable for the official rollout of the central bank-backed sovereign digital currency, R&D has been promoted smoothly.

On Wednesday, China's ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Digital Currency Institute of the PBC, and plans to explore the innovative application of digital currency in the intelligent traveling sector.