The central bank strives to issue digital currency as soon as possible. Bitcoin technology is safer

The People's Bank of China stated on the 20th that it will study the multi-scenario application of digital currency and strive to launch the digital currency issued by the central bank as soon as possible.

The information was released by the central bank at the "People's Bank of China Digital Currency Seminar" held on the same day. Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan , Deputy Central Bank Governor Fan Yifei, digital currency research experts from Citibank and Deloitte and other institutions attended the meeting. The topics discussed included the overall framework of digital currency issuance, national digital currency in the evolution of currency, and nationally issued cryptocurrencies.

The meeting required, "to further clarify the strategic goals of the central bank's issuance of digital currency, to do a good job in key technology research, to study the multi-scenario application of digital currency, and to strive to launch the digital currency issued by the central bank as soon as possible. The design of digital currency should be based on the principles of economy, convenience and security, and ensure the low cost and wide coverage of digital currency applications, to achieve seamless connection between digital currency and other payment tools, and to enhance the applicability and vitality of digital currency."

The meeting believes that issuing digital currency can reduce the high cost of issuing and circulating traditional paper currency, improve the convenience and transparency of economic transactions, reduce illegal and criminal activities such as money laundering and tax evasion, enhance the central bank's control over money supply and circulation, better support economic and social development, and help achieve inclusive finance. In the future, the establishment of a digital currency issuance and circulation system will also help my country build a new financial infrastructure, further improve my country's payment system, improve payment and clearing efficiency, and promote economic quality, efficiency and upgrading.

The meeting revealed that the central bank had established a digital currency research team in 2014 and further strengthened its forces in early 2015. It has conducted in-depth research on the digital currency issuance and business operation framework, key technologies of digital currency, the digital currency issuance and circulation environment, legal issues faced by digital currency, the impact of digital currency on the economic and financial system, the relationship between legal digital currency and privately issued digital currency, and international digital currency issuance experience, and has achieved phased results.

The reason that prompted the central bank to study digital currency is that "with the development of information technology and the evolution of technologies such as mobile Internet , trusted and controllable cloud computing , terminal security storage, and blockchain, payment methods have undergone tremendous changes worldwide. The development of digital currency is bringing new opportunities and challenges to the central bank's currency issuance and monetary policy."

According to a document obtained by 21st Century Business Herald from Deloitte, blockchain is the distributed ledger technology behind Bitcoin, a way to record transactions and data information exchanges. Blockchain exists on the Internet and is open to all users, but it is highly secure and cannot be tampered with. It can be used to record identity information, store assets and smart contracts, etc., to help people and things achieve point-to-point transactions and exchanges, and to complete the exchange of value without the intervention of a third party.

Digital currency has gone beyond the scope of traditional credit currency issued by the central bank and circulated through banks and other financial systems.

A reporter from 21st Century Business Herald learned that at the seminar, experts who introduced blockchain and other related technologies from institutions such as Citibank Innovation Lab and Deloitte China introduced Citicoin, blockchain and its global development trends. The central bank's announcement also showed that the parties involved in the digital currency research work include "relevant international institutions", Internet companies, relevant domestic and foreign financial institutions, and traditional card-based payment institutions.

Blockchain and other digital currency technologies have been noticed and studied internationally. Global financial giants including Nasdaq, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS Group, and Goldman Sachs Group are busy setting up blockchain laboratories and competing to invest in related technology companies. For example, the US stock market Nasdaq (NASDAQ) has launched the private market blockchain project Linq, which is a digital distributed ledger technology that uses blockchain to promote the issuance, classification and recording of private enterprise stocks in the Nasdaq private trading platform market transfer . Multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs has submitted a patent application for a securities settlement system based on the new cryptocurrency "SETLcoin". According to reports, the system allows participants at the same level to exchange cryptographic symbols representing securities and complete timely settlement.