I don't think this is exactly how it works. I'm certain in different currencies, people who pay for items or resources pay way less in their money than in USA or EU for example. I think they want people to lose more and "think" they'll get anywhere by having this or that weapon or mech or rank. The AI no matter how much you have will always have more and play better.
No idea what this was done for, slow progress, deny rewards or safe-keys, or wins in a competition, slow MVP achivements. No clue - but battles on iPhone happen fast, and depending on the time of day it's now a 60/40 for me - One time I had to take a call and left the game running in the background, magically with my robot not moving at all I won the match and got a MVP out of it - this leads me to suspect the outcome of the match is predetermined before the match with AI even starts.