2016-02-18 Thu

During a digital currency conference in Beijing on 20th January, China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, announced that they were looking into launching their own digital currency as soon as possible.

Zhou Xiaochuan, People's Bank of China Governor said that Digital currency will co-exist with cash for quite a long time before it finally replaces cash. With this, delivery and storage methods for money will improve considerably as money will be stored in cloud computation space instead of the central bank's treasuries and commercial banks' vaults, improving security and efficiency of issuing and withdrawing digital currency as well.

Two types of technologies can be used, account-based, and non-account-based, both of which can co-exist by being applied to different layers. He confirmed that digital currency should be designed in a way that can best protect people's privacy, from the central bank's perspective, while social security and social order are also important factors.

The Governor also said that digital currency will help build the financial infrastructure and improve the quality and efficiency of the economy.