China has been at the forefront of the birth and evolution of Central Bank Digital Currencies science news emerged that the country was in the midst of making its own digital Yuan as part of its blockchain technology advancements proclaimed by the country’s president.
Details, however, have remained fairly scarce since the news emerged with only small bits of information filtering out and a seemingly long process still ongoing. However, even with the Covid-19 outbreak which originated in China, there looks to have been some big progress made recently.
China’s Central Bank — the People Bank of China, has reportedly completed the basic development of the currency and is now in the process of drafting the legislation that will create the framework for this unprecedented form of national currency.
In fact, it may well be that the Covid-19 outbreak had something to do with the acceleration of this project as the world looks to be on the cusp of a disruptive revolution in a number of areas.
Chinese publication Global Times reported, citing an unnamed industry insider, that the central bank, in collaboration with private companies: “has completed development of the sovereign digital currency’s basic function and is now drafting relevant laws to pave the way for its circulation,” the publication detailed.
The insider added:
“As more central banks around the world are cutting interest rates to zero or even entering negative territory to release liquidity into the market amid the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic, China should accelerate the launch of its digital currency.”
New patents paint a picture of China’s Digital Currency
While the insider has provided some more details about how far along the project is, there have also been a number of patents that have emerged that surround the Chinese cryptocurrency project.
The first patent, which has been called: “Implementation and Electronic Equipment of CBDC transaction,” came out in late February, mentions that Alipay likely plans to participate in the second issuance in the national digital currency’s two-layer structure alongside commercial banks.
Then, another patent entitled “A Digital Currency Account Control Method and Device.” states that “If regulators want to restrict illegal transactions, they need to go through the bank’s currency operating agency when illegal activities have occurred and it’s very difficult to recover the transferred fund,” the publication described.
One more patent labelled “Digital Wallet’s Method and Electronic Device” discusses many types of digital wallets for different services that are on offer.
