Beijing News: Libra encounters "red light", digital currency remains popular, nine countries speak out within a month

According to Reuters recently, EU finance ministers agreed that private digital currencies (such as Facebook's Libra) should not be allowed into the EU until the risks they may pose are clearly addressed.

The European Union has previously shown a tough stance on Libra. Under regulatory pressure, several members of the Libra Association, including international e-commerce giant eBay, payment giant PayPal, and international card organizations Visa and Master, have announced their withdrawal.

However, the global discussion on digital currency remains heated. According to incomplete statistics from the Beijing News, nine central banks have spoken out on national digital currencies in the past month. Among them, China, France and other countries have stated that they are actively promoting the research and development of digital currencies, while the United States, Russia, Canada, South Korea and other countries have made it clear that there is no need to issue national digital currencies at present.

Actively promoting: China, France and other countries have stated that they are actively promoting the development of digital currency and other issues

Recently, many current and former officials of the People's Bank of China have talked about digital currency in public speeches.

Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, revealed that the central bank's legal digital currency has basically completed top-level design, standard setting, function development, joint debugging and testing. The next step will be to reasonably select pilot verification areas, scenarios and service scopes, continuously optimize and enrich functions, and steadily promote the introduction and application of digital legal currency.

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People's Bank of China, said that the central bank's digital currency will still focus mainly on the country, and may pay more attention to providing wholesale services between banks and third-party payment companies. Retail services will have a great impact on the existing financial system. If it is to target cross-border business, a joint mechanism may be needed.

Mu Changchun, director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, emphasized that the central bank's digital currency will meet the public's demand for privacy transactions and provide more redundancy for the current electronic payment system. China's current payment system still has market segmentation and friction. It is hoped that through the future central bank's digital currency, a more smooth and universal payment method can be established to cover remote areas and promote financial inclusion.

France, a member state of the European Union that has given a "red light" to Libra, has proposed that the eurozone should consider establishing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) and blockchain settlement system, which can transfer euros faster and at a lower cost than existing technologies. Denis Beau, deputy governor of the Bank of France, said that supporting distributed ledger technology (DLT) is likely to solve many outstanding market problems, and one solution the Bank of France is considering is CBDC.

The Central Bank of Ghana is considering issuing a digital currency to accommodate the growth of electronic payment systems, Governor Ernest Addison said.

Mubarak, the governor of the UAE Central Bank, said that the UAE-Saudi digital currency project will help reduce remittance costs and will also help promote interbank transfers and mutual trade between the two countries. Mubarak also pointed out that the two countries have also launched a distributed ledger "proof of concept" system to facilitate cross-border settlements.

No issuance for the time being: Central banks of the United States, Russia, Canada, South Korea and other countries have made it clear that there is no need to issue national digital currencies at present

There are also many countries that have made it clear that there is no need to issue national digital currencies at present. The Beijing News reporter found that most of these countries are watching the progress of Libra and the issuance plans of digital currencies by other central banks. The main reason for not issuing digital currencies at present is that the security and stability of digital currencies have not been confirmed.

Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee that he and Federal Reserve Chairman Powell agreed that the Federal Reserve does not need to issue digital currency in the next five years. Regarding Facebook's digital currency Libra, Mnuchin emphasized that if Facebook wants to create a digital currency, he has no objection to it, but it needs to fully comply with bank confidentiality and anti-money laundering regulations, and it must not be used to finance illegal activities such as terrorism.

In response to a question raised by a U.S. representative about whether the Fed plans to issue a national digital currency, Powell said that the Fed is conducting small-scale research-centered experiments to gain experience and better understand the opportunities and limitations of CBDC, while closely monitoring the digital currencies being explored by central banks of many countries, but currently has no plans to issue a U.S. dollar digital currency.

The deputy governor of the Bank of Canada said there is no reason to issue a digital currency at present, but preparations need to be made for it in the foreseeable future.

An official in charge of digital payment research at the Bank of Korea said there is no plan to issue a government-controlled digital currency or central bank digital currency. Since Libra has not yet been launched, it is necessary to maintain close communication with counterparts in other countries on how to deal with this issue. "Most Koreans do not feel difficulty in using current payment methods for transactions. In this case, we do not have to rush to catch up with the latest trend, whose security and stability have not yet been proven."

The Central Bank of Tunisia has recently been involved in a false rumor. The Beijing News reporter learned from the official website of the Central Bank of Tunisia that the bank denied rumors about problems with the official digital currency developed based on the blockchain platform Universa. The bank said that it is committed to financial digitization and is currently in the stage of examining all existing alternatives, including central bank digital currencies, but this option is still in the reflection stage.

Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Russian Central Bank, said in a recent speech to the State Duma that she is studying how digital currencies of many countries operate in her country, but does not support any form of "private money", and specifically mentioned cryptocurrencies. She had previously stated that she was studying national digital currencies, but believed that there were many risks and that Russia did not need to issue a national digital currency yet.