According to the Chinese authorities, the third stage of the pilot launch of the digital yuan (e-CNY) was successful. Ten million e-CNY were introduced into the country’s economy. The local authorities were monitoring the activity of holders of DCEP digital wallets and the movement of digital currency.
The People’s Bank of China has published a new progress report on the research and development of e-CNY called “Progress of Research & Development of e-CNY in China”. The document reads that the testing of the national digital currency is held in “a prudent and orderly manner”. The PBOC is focused on advantages and differences from cryptocurrencies that have become popular in many countries of the world. The regulator made it clear that in the near future, e-CNY would be the only accepted digital asset.
“The development of digital economy calls for new retail payment infrastructures that are safe, inclusive and adaptive to the digital era. As the digital economy develops, the share of transactions using cash is declining in China.”
However, the appearance of a large number of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as well as speculative instruments, which do not have a real value, low-efficiency transactions, and huge electricity consumption carry risks to the financial security of markets and the resilience and internal balance of society. In other words, they are not suitable for everyday payments.
At the same time, e-CNY is a digital version of the fiat yuan, which has all the main functions of cash money. It has a status of a legal means of payment in China and is managed by authorized operators. It was also mentioned that e-CNY will be a liability of the regulator.
