The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved the study of digital money/currencies and mobile payments in the territory of the special economic zone of Shenzhen. So, the city should create a “pilot demonstration zone, taking into account the characteristics of Chinese socialism.”
This news quickly spread throughout the Chinese media and in the local cryptocurrency community, but foreign observers point out the difficulty of correctly interpreting government decrees. In addition, digital money is only one of many objects of study in special economic zones.
Also, note that at the moment it is not entirely clear what kind of specific digital money we are talking about since the official position of Beijing regarding cryptocurrencies has always been tough. In the country, not only ICOs and airdrops are banned, but also the activities of cryptocurrency exchanges. At the same time, according to court decisions, the Chinese can own and exchange bitcoins, since they have property properties.
Do not forget that against the background of the announcement of the digital currency Libra from Facebook, the Chinese authorities have accelerated the development of the digital renminbi. Recently it became known that the prototype and blockchain architecture is ready.
This news is everywhere in China crypto but it’s super important to note: 1) it’s just one of many aspects of the Special Economic Zone’s scope 2) Chinese government announcements notoriously difficult to parse.
— Matthew Graham (@mg0314a) August 18, 2019
The bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) will not be entirely based on the blockchain. According to representatives of the central bank, this approach will make CBDC’s bandwidth sufficient for retail payments.