China’s trials with central bank digital currency (CBDC) show no signs of slowing down, as the updated numbers for October 2021 revealed at Hong Kong Fintech Week. Set out to replace cash in day-to-day transactions, the digital yuan (e-CNY) is gaining traction among individuals and corporates alike, according to PBoC’s Digital Currency Institute head Mu Changchun. Speaking at the conference on Wednesday, Mu said the number of individual digital yuan accounts hit 140 million while corporates created another 10 million accounts. While the official launch date is still unclear for e-CNY, China has continued to expand the rollout of trials …

The price of Bitcoin fell 5% today following “breaking” (read: weeks' old) news that the People’s Bank of China, or PBoC, had declared all cryptocurrency transactions illegal. With that in mind, let's take a nostalgic look at the last 12 years of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) coming out of China, and see if we can spot any patterns. China banned 'virtual currencies' for the first time in 2009 1: Chinese regulators have never exactly been crypto advocates. When blockchain-based digital currencies were still in their infancy, i.e., 2009, China’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce barred the use …

A combination of multiple indicators tracking Bitcoin (BTC) on the blockchain could continue the benchmark cryptocurrency’s price rally further into 2021, popular on-chain analyst Willy Woo anticipates. In his recent newsletter, the market researcher wrote that he expects Bitcoin prices to reach the $50,000–$65,000 range in the coming sessions. His comments appeared as BTC/USD reclaimed its three-month high above $42,600 only days after crashing below $30,000, the pair’s psychological support level. “My expectation is similar to BTC at $20k all-time-high in January, where the price is pinned close to the $40k-$42k ceiling over a period of days (2 weeks maximum) …

Much attention has been paid to the global, geopolitical implications of China’s rapid and pioneering development of its digital yuan, also provisionally known as e-CNY. Yet in a new white paper published by the Working Group on E-CNY Research and Development of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the institution gave a more domestic-focused and technologically-driven vision of the new currency’s background and key objectives. Recapping the currency’s research and development timeline, the paper notes that the PBoC first set up a task force to study digital fiat currency back in 2014. By 2016, it had established a Digital Currency …

The Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) — the world's third-largest bank by assets — is set to implement Beijing’s firm anti-cryptocurrency measures and rigorously vet its clients to ensure they are not engaged in any form of illegal activities involving crypto transacting, trading or mining. AgBank’s statement today followed the institution’s meeting with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), which convened major domestic banks and mobile payment service providers and ordered them to ensure that banking and settlement services are denied to clients engaged in crypto-related transactions. An official PBoC statement today reiterated that all banks and payment institutions “must …

This is Part One of a multipart series on blockchain and crypto in China. Read Part Two about the role of emerging technologies in the future of finance in China and globally here. China has been discussing the possibilities of national digital currency for half a decade, and the Chinese digital yuan project — referred to as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP — has years of history. Back in 2014, the People’s Bank of China set up a research group “to study digital currencies and application scenarios.” The research team was conducting a digital currency study and reportedly …

Ant Group, the financial affiliate of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, has reportedly reached an agreement with Chinese regulators over the company's status. According to a Feb. 3 report by Bloomberg, Chinese regulators have agreed on a restructuring plan that will turn Jack Ma’s fintech giant into a financial holding company. Ant Group’s new status will reportedly make it subject to capital requirements similar to those for Chinese banks. The agreement will impact a wide scope of Ant’s business operations, including its technology offerings in areas like blockchain and food delivery, unnamed sources told Bloomberg. According to the report, the restructuring …

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has declined by more than 3% in the past two days. The pullback of the dominant cryptocurrency comes amid growing regulatory pressure in China and Hong Kong. Timeline of exchange FUD in the past month On Oct. 16, top Bitcoin futures exchange OKEx suspended withdrawals after one of its private key holders was reportedly arrested. A mere 17 days later, speculation emerged that Huobi, a Singapore-based exchange with an office in Hong Kong, might face regulatory pressure after data showed massive Bitcoin and Tether withdrawals on Nov. 2. However, Huobi Global reaffirmed that the exchange …

An astonishing 80% of central banks are engaging in work around central bank digital currencies, from research to experimentation and pilot programs. A recent Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, chart demonstrates the growing interest in CBDCs by central banks, as reflected in speeches and reports as well as people’s Google search interests over time. One country, in particular, to watch in this respect is China, which is emerging as one of the leaders in the shift to CBDCs. The People’s Bank of China introduced its CBDC in pilot form in the major city of Shenzhen and plans to use …

The tech and payments-focused subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has entered into a partnership with the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China. Local media reported on Sept. 21 that JD Digital Technology and the Digital Currency Research Institute will promote the development of mobile applications and blockchain platforms that are in line with PBoC’s forthcoming central bank digital currency. The two entities will also promote the creation of wallets that support China’s digital currency. The mobile applications will reportedly support the digital renminbi and they will be integrated with JD Group’s existing platforms and services. …

The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is planning to add the Tencent-backed food delivery giant Meituan Dianping to its list of platforms that will test real-world use cases of the digital yuan. Meituan Dianping is a Beijing-based food delivery platform that currently boasts of more than 435 million active users and billions of dollars of daily transactions. This creates a huge opportunity for the mass adoption of the digital yuan, which is also referred to as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment or DCEP. Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that Meituan had been in talks with the research arm of China’s central …

Martin Chorzempa, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, provided insight into the motivations and objectives underpinning the development of China’s state-backed Blockchain Service Network while speaking at Consensus: Distributed on May 12. Chorzempa highlighted the domestic goals of China’s blockchain strategy, describing the BSN as a means for China to keep abreast of innovations within the distributed ledger technology sector while restricting the penetration of foreign firms and protecting against capital flight. China’s strategy design to mitigate "foreign threat" Chorzempa emphasized that China wants to be “at the cutting edge and know where the interesting innovations …