New Digital Currency: China:
China in February launched the latest round of pilot trials of its new digital currency, with reported plans of a major roll-out by the end of the year and ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February 2022.
- Officially titled the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the digital RMB (or Renminbi, China’s currency) is a digital version of China’s currency.
- It can be downloaded and exchanged via an application authorized by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank.
- Digital currency is a legal tender guaranteed by the central bank, not a payment guaranteed by a third-party operator.
- There is no third-party transaction, and hence, no transaction fee.
- Unlike e-wallets, digital currency does not require Internet connectivity.
- The payment is made through Near-field Communication (NFC) technology.
- Unlike non-bank payment platforms that require users to link bank accounts, this can be opened with a personal identification number.
