China has been making rapid progress on the front of creating its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), staying ahead of its competitors in its development. As the creation of a nationwide digital currency has a widespread impact on a country’s economy which has for many years relied on fiat currency and physical cash, China is taking its CBDC development plans seriously as it has filed 84 patents under its digital currency electronic payments (DCEP) system, according to the Financial Times.
Notably, China’s CBDC will be integrated with “existing retail bank infrastructure”, and the patents filed are pertaining to the architecture of its CBDC system in its protocols and parameters, including plans on how to issue and manage the CBDC. The digital currency’s tokenomics, measures for inflation control, provision of a digital wallet have reportedly been outlined as well within the patents.
While many nations have yet to smoothly integrate cashless transactions to a majority of its public, China has been a leader in changing the perspectives and spending behaviours of its citizens when it comes to digital payments. Rolling out a digital currency for mass adoption and use may pick up traction quickly among China’s citizens.
“The theme is that China has made massive investments and are taking this very seriously. That is drastically different from the United States approach and this just highlights that,” Perianne Boring, President of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, remarked.
China’s plans for CBDC have other major global powers such as Japan accelerating their own plans for digital currency creation. In a recent report by Deutsche Bank, it was predicted that China’s digital yuan may overtake the US Dollar. There has been no set launch date for China’s CBDC as of present.
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