Forget bitcoin, China’s crypto-yuan is set to transform banking
Digital currencies could become substitutes not just for physical cash but also for bank reserves
30 December 2019 - 12:10
So is China readying its own bitcoin? Banish the thought.
It’s far bigger than that. Yes, just like any other crypto-currency — or for that matter, cigarettes in POW camps — the upcoming digital yuan will be “tokenised” money. But the similarity ends there. The crypto-yuan, which may be on offer as soon as 2020, will be fully backed by the central bank of the world’s second-largest economy, drawing its value from the Chinese state’s ability to impose taxes in perpetuity. Other national authorities are bound to embrace this powerful idea...
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