The head of the government centre for research on blockchain technology Zhang Yifeng (Yifeng Zhang) confirmed that China is in the process of developing national digital currency, but the timing of its launch is still unknown.
His organization China Banknote Blockchain Research Center is a state-funded center, which was formed under the China Banknote Credit Card Industry Developmen. Latest wholly owned China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation is a state Corporation, print embossing banknotes and coins for the people’s Bank of China (PBoC), which is directly subordinate.
Zhang Yifeng also called “fake news” circulating in the media rumors that the country has launched a digital currency backed by the Central Bank. He stressed that after the release of the digital currency Central Bank (CBDC), it will be able to instantly replace the existing monetary mechanism. Most likely, Fiat and digital money will be used in parallel, said Zhang.
He noticed that the Central part of the state of digital currency is its role as a payment instrument. According to Zhang, bitcoin and Ethereum can not be called digital currencies, as they are rather than a means of payment and store of value.
Earlier the Governor of the PBoC Zhou Xiaochuan (Zhou Xiaochuan) said that the government will not hurry with the development of government digital currency. Although, he said, issued by the Central Bank cryptocurrency will avoid speculation and focus on the “real economy”.
We will remind that earlier the group of analysts of the Bank for international settlements (BIS) came to the conclusion that CBDC can threaten the stability of the global financial system. A member of the Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) , Benoit coeure (Benoît Cœuré) indicated that CBDC “showed undeniable advantages for wholesale payments and beyond”.
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