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PBOC: China’s Digital Currency Not Launching in November

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) announced that the long-awaited central bank-issued digital currency will not be ready in November as it had been predicted in crypto circles. From the bank, they added that reports saying Alibaba and Tencent are among the first financial institutions to receive the currency was incorrect.

This came as a surprise because just few weeks ago we could hear that it will “be better than Libra“, and they even enthroned their new digital currency chief Changchun Mu who claimed their upcoming digital yuan would have even more features. Mu also recently took over the role of director of the PBOC’s research institute on digital currency

So, it doesn’t really seem that these were only rumors but rather that the bank couldn’t fulfill some of the law obligements.

Be it as it may, this was presented as the “DC/EP” (Digital Currency/Electronic Payments) currency, which has been in the works for five years, and should be the first of its kind to be adopted on a massive scale.

Obviously caused by news of Facebook’s cryptocurrency, the central bank quickly went on accelerating the development of its digital money. Let’s not forget they, said its development is one of their focuses for the second half of this year and that it could be launched as early as next year.

Now suddenly, the central bank claims information such as the timing of the currency launch and participating institutions was false but explains nothing more about the (real) reasons.

The clarification follows a Forbes report from August citing multiple sources who then said the launch of the digital currency was approaching and could fall before the November 11 Chinese e-commerce festival known as Singles Day. The sources also said Chinese commercial banks and payment companies such as above mentioned Alibaba and Tencent will be among the first institutions to receive DC/EP for distribution.

The central bank said in the statement that the progress of the DC/EP would be announced in due time and urged the public to follow official announcements.

Also let’s not forget that in July, PBoC’s former governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that one option would be to enable “commercial entities” to issue the digital coin, as Hong Kong allows with its dollar. He also said that the announcement of the Facebook-led Libra crypto project meant the government should “make good preparations and make the Chinese yuan a stronger currency” through the digital currency.

Be it as it may, while PBoC cannot decide whether they said something to be done or not, Asia Pacific Digital Bank (APDB) already announced the preliminary launch of its stable coin USDA, backed by U.S. dollars on a 1:1 ratio, which is said to be strategically endorsed by the Wall Street Group. The main idea of this currency is to follow the concept of “freedom, equality, and sharing”.

PBOC: China’s Digital Currency Not Launching in November

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