China’s Own Digital Currency Coming Soon, Central Bank Official Says

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) will soon release a digital currency of its own — the fruit of five years of research and development, a senior central bank official said over the weekend at a conference.

The PBOC’s digital currency and electronic payment system (DC/EP) will not rely entirely on blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies, because the technology cannot handle the enormous volume of retail transactions generated in a country as large as China, said Mu Changchun, a deputy director of the PBOC’s payment and settlement department.