Digital currency in the eyes of the central bank

Money is the product of the long-term development of commodity production and exchange. In commodity exchange, people must measure the value of commodities, and the value of one commodity must be expressed by the value of another commodity. The development of this commodity value form has gone through four stages, namely, the simple (or accidental) value form, the expanded value form, the general value form and the monetary form of value. This is the whole process of money from germination to formation with the development of commodity production and commodity exchange.

Money is a commodity that serves as a general equivalent. From the perspective of the development and evolution of money, the form of money has been constantly changing with the changes in social production and commodity circulation, and has been constantly adapting to the development of the commodity economy, evolving from a low-level form to a high-level form. It has gone through the physical currency stage, the metal currency stage, the substitute currency stage, and the credit currency stage. With the development of computer Internet technology and the needs of the commodity economy, electronic currency, virtual currency, and digital currency have emerged.

It is easy to distinguish between electronic currency and virtual currency, but there are many different opinions between virtual currency and digital currency.

Some people directly regard digital currency as part of virtual currency, which belongs to the fourth category of virtual currency: quasi-currency. In a broad sense, virtual currency refers to virtual currency without physical form. If we follow this definition, it can include a lot, so many classifications directly classify digital currency and cryptocurrencies as virtual currency, but in general, virtual currency refers to quasi-legal currency used in virtual scenarios.

Virtual currency is different from electronic currency. Electronic currency refers to electronic data issued by banks and other financial institutions to replace paper currency and has legal tender functions, while virtual currency refers to a currency generated in a virtual network environment, issued by non-financial private companies or without an issuing entity, and can be used to purchase virtual goods or services as a general equivalent.

Both digital gold coins and cryptocurrencies belong to digital currency ( DIGICCY ). It cannot be completely equated with virtual currency in the virtual world, because it is often used for real goods and services transactions, not just limited to virtual spaces such as online games. Digital currency ( Digital currency ) is divided into two categories, referring to non- cryptocurrency currency (i.e. digital gold currency, such as e-gold , and company-issued currency, such as xrp ) and cryptocurrency currency (i.e. bitcoin - like currency).

At the first Big Data Finance Forum held on June 24 , the Director of the Survey and Statistics Department of the Central Bank gave a systematic and comprehensive response. The focus is on three points: First, digital currency is issued by the central bank, not decentralized. Unlike the existing electronic standard currency, the future central bank digital currency may be a standard currency based on blockchain technology and with decentralized ledger characteristics. The future central bank digital currency can realize " point-to-point " payment and settlement without the help of a third-party centralized institution; second, digital currency technology will not replace currency issuance and monetary policy; finally, the central bank digital currency will enhance the effectiveness of money supply and monetary policy.

Security is a problem that digital currencies have always faced. The DAO hacker attack sounded the alarm. In the field of financial payments, security is the foundation. Any innovation that does not meet the prerequisite of security will not be widely accepted.