The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) officially reported that it is “still in the process of research and testing” its digital yuan, rumor its launch is ‘fraudulent’.
Last month, China’s President Xi Jinping called for greater levels of research and investment into blockchain during a meeting with Communist Party officials that caused stocks in blockchain-powered cryptocurrency Bitcoin and other blockchain-related companies to surge.
The Xi’s support for blockchain also prompted senior regulators from China’s foreign exchange agency, calling for “special attention” to digital finance development. As a result, the central bank is gearing up efforts to launch its digital currency amid global interest in the technology.
From when this news is reported, there is much speculation surrounding the crypto and blockchain space about the country with the second-largest economy in the world.
Last recently, it announced that the PBoC has issued legally digital currency, and some organizations have used the name to trade the relevant digital products. The digital yuan is formally called the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DECP) and the central bank’s announcement came on the heels of a website DECPAPI.com, featuring an API with a countdown indicating that the national stable coin would launch on November 20.
The PBoC, however, the country’s central bank, has officially said that it is still in the testing stage with no date set for its launch and the news stating that the central bank has issued its digital currency are “fraudulent”, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
“The PBoC has not issued legal digital currency (DC/EP) and has not authorized any asset trading platform to conduct transactions,” the central bank said. And “any launch time suggested on the Internet is inaccurate”.
The bank also warned potential investors of the rise of scams and Ponzi schemes being offered in the name of the digital currency.
“Investors should be aware of companies that pose as the central bank to attract people to ‘trade’ the digital currency, which could be fraught with misleading information” it added.
The PBoC is running the development of the stable coin via its Digital Currency Research Institute, established in 2014 under the supervision of the bank’s payments department, Mu Changchun, head of the digital currency research institute at the PBoC, said.
After a relatively quiet five-year development period, the central bank began releasing more details about DCEP following Facebook’s unveiling of Libra in June. Mu also said that the upcoming digital yuan will not fully control people’s information and will provide them with required anonymity in their transactions.
Forbes claimed that in August the national digital currency would be launched on Nov.11, citing an unnamed official from the Chinese government. In September, the central bank denied that date and said there was no plan to launch the stable coin within the next 80 days, or before Dec. 10.
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