(Yicai) June 18 -- JD.Com will launch six innovative projects in the short term, including the issuance of stablecoins, according to the chairman of the Chinese e-commerce giant.

JD.Com aims to apply for stablecoin licenses in major global currencies to facilitate currency exchanges between enterprises, reduce cross-border payment costs by 90 percent, and shorten transborder payments to within 10 seconds, Richard Liu said at a media briefing yesterday, without disclosing any details about the other projects.

On April 27, JD.Com’s subsidiary Jingdong Coinlink Technology Hong Kong launched JD-HK, a compliant stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the Hong Kong dollar. JD-HK is the first stablecoin issued by a physical enterprise in Hong Kong.

Liu claimed the past five years were lost for JD.Com because the company did not introduce any new business model in the period, which led to its share of the e-commerce market declining and its growth slowing down.

Cross-border e-commerce is not sustainable in the long run, so JD.Com’s international business strategy will instead focus on local e-commerce platforms, establishing local teams, selling only branded products, and sourcing and shipping locally, Liu noted.

JD.Com has signed agreements with 1,000 Chinese brands and plans to bring them overseas within the next five years, Liu said, adding that the company has been building its infrastructure in Europe for three years and aims to start operations there by the end of this year.

In terms of artificial intelligence, Liu explained that JD.Com will increase training for delivery personnel to adapt to technological changes. As the number of self-driving delivery vehicles grows, some delivery workers may change to maintenance and service jobs.

Regarding competition with Meituan, Liu said that JD.Com focuses more on the fresh food supply chain behind delivery services, and that it aims to create a business model entirely different from Meituan’s.

JD.Com entered the food delivery market on March 1. By June 15, it already had more than 120,000 full-time delivery riders, with 3,000 to 4,000 new hires joining daily.

In the first quarter, JD.Com reported a revenue of CNY301.1 billion (USD41.9 billion), up 16 percent from a year earlier. Its adjusted net profit widened 43 percent to CNY12.8 billion (USD1.8 billion) in the period.

Editor: Futura Costaglione