China has built a framework called the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) which would enable its national bank (PBOC) to issue a cryptocurrency commercial banks and payment networks like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
That is according to Jack Lee, Co-Founder & Executive Director of Chained Finance Ltd. (an automatic supply chain finance company based on Blockchain technology) who told CNBC:
“So, they already have all the system and the network ready. I think you will see it very soon, in the next maybe two to three months.”
He pointed out that the digital currency launch is not meant to totally replace the actual currency but will start as an experiment and will expand after getting tested.
HCM Capital which is backed by Foxconn Technology Group, one of the top 10 technology companies in the world, has invested in many blockchain start-ups.
According to Daniela Stoffel, State Secretary for International Finance at the Federal Department of Finance in Switzerland, the eventual launch of China’s digital currency may force authorities around the globe to decide how they want to regulate this new technology.
Stoffel told CNBC:
“If the governments now realize that this is now really actually happening, and the question and challenges that are implied in an e-currency are now real, I hope this will lend further momentum to decisions on a global basis.”
Xi Jinping, president of China has recently called to seize the opportunity of blockchain technology that aims for China to become a global leader in blockchain development. China needs to make “greater effort” to develop and apply blockchain technologies and gain an “edge over other major countries,” he said.
