By
Steve Muchoki
November 28th, 2023
The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has denied all the rumors about the fact that it already launched its digital yuan.
The People’s Bank of China has debunked rumors that it has launched its national cryptocurrency. In a statement on its website, the leading bank indicated that reports of a launch are fraudulent and misleading. It said:
“The People’s Bank of China has not issued legal digital currency (DC/EP) and has not authorized any asset trading platform to conduct transactions.”
Furthermore, several media organizations had already indicated that launch date and a timetable had been put in place for the launch of the said cryptocurrency. The central bank also debunked such claims in its statement.
The Central bank also indicated that it was still testing and researching its “digital yuan”.
It also indicated that many schemes which involve the raising of funds are fraudulent by nature.
“…the current network of so-called legal digital currency issuance, and individual institutions fraudulently launching “DC/EP” or “DCEP” on the asset trading platform in the name of the People’s Bank of China, may involve fraud and pyramid schemes, and ask the general public to raise risks.”
This comes at a time when the Chinese Government is making a major push into the blockchain space. At the recent politburo, Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged the Chinese to push into the blockchain space and Bitcoin prices also went up by more than 30% during that period. Also, over 500 projects have been identified that involve the use of blockchain technology.
The emergence of a national cryptocurrency brings many issues to the fore. Many see this as a move against Facebook’s Libra which ominously omitted the Chinese national currency from the basket of currencies against which it is pegged. As such, the Chinese have already made headway to be able to counter whatever control real or perceived that cryptocurrencies such as Libra will have over their people.
The issue of anonymity is also one that the Chinese have sought to calm frayed nerves over. Earlier this week, Mu Changchun, head of the digital currency research institute at the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), at a conference in Singapore on Tuesday, said:
“We know the demand from the general public is to keep anonymity by using paper money and coins … we will give those people who demand it anonymity in their transactions.”
This, of course, doesn’t mean that criminal activities can’t be tracked or traced. It just means that the anonymity for credible transactions will be kept. In all, the Chinese have made giant strides in working towards the creation of a national cryptocurrency. When they do launch it they will be worlds ahead of the rest of the world in creating the first national digital currency which will be powered by blockchain technology.
