PBoC Sets The New Digital Yuan Apart From Other Cryptocurrencies

During a recent speech at the Second Bund Summit, the PBoC's research institute for digital currency head Mu Changchun laid out clear distinctions between China's forthcoming digital yuan and other forms of payment, according to the South China Morning Post. The speech comes after a trial of the new digital currency in Shenzhen earlier in October. Amid concerns that the digital yuan will render digital wallets like WeChat Pay and Alipay obsolete, Mu stresses that the digital yuan provides a different benefit from that of the digital wallets, as it functions solely as a currency and not as a payment platform. While there will be a new digital yuan-compatible app specifically for China's Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), Mu notes that users can still make payments with the digital yuan on existing digital wallets.

Mu makes further distinctions between the digital yuan and other cryptocurrencies by emphasizing his strong desire to centralize the new currency, which sets it far apart from bitcoin and other decentralized coins. In addition to planning for government regulation of the coin, Mu mentions the need to monitor the digital yuan carefully in order to prevent counterfeit and fraud, which he says have already occurred.

By Isaac Goluboff

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