Chinese Digital Currency to be released “within the year” according to Edith Cheung! Chinese Digital Currency is a hot topic – could it be bullish or could it be bearish for Bitcoin?
China’s made it clear that it wants nothing to do with Bitcoin, but wants everything to do with Blockchain technology. The Chinese government has been working on a state-backed Digital RMB and while they claim that it could be years before it becomes implemented, professionals in the industry are saying that it will be much sooner than that.
In a televised interview yesterday, Edith Cheung, a local blockchain venture capitalist and creator of the China Internet Report, told CNBC that China will “definitely” be ready to roll out its digital currency within the year.
She said that the Chinese government has been very “thoughtful” about it and revealed that research into how to use a digital RMB has been underway “for the last five years.”
She says that authorities in China are accelerating their efforts, including organizations like the Bank of China, Alipay, WeChat Pay. They’re doing this to target everyday people – especially since Xi Jingping came out so forcefully in favor of blockchain technology.
A digital currency will likely gain rapid adoption in a country whose citizens already use their phones to make payments for just about everything.
According to Cheung, the Chinese Yuan will become a serious threat to the US dollar amid increasing adoption of the digital RMB.
“I really think the United States needs to hurry up, to have a strong thinking and policy, at least a direction for virtual USD,” she said.
If the US fails to do this, Cheung warns, the USD could quickly lose its global dominance as a world currency – it could even be replaced with a digital RMB.
“China is built by engineers and US is built by lawyers.”
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