People’s Bank of China to Launch Pilot Projects on Cryptocurrencies and Fintech Innovation
China’s central banking authority, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), is planning to roll out the pilot project focused on digital currency electronic payment in two of its major cities, namely, Shenzhen and Suzhou in the near future. Reports also affirmed that the PBOC is likely to put to the test its long-awaited digital currency electronic payment (DC/EP) solution in Shenzhen and Suzhou as a pilot.
The reports published by the news portals have created a lot of buzz in the crypto market as it pops up shortly after China’s President Xi Jinping’s positive remarks on cryptocurrencies. The leader addressed the digital currencies as an “important breakthrough” and gave a red flag to the development and launch of a state-owned digital currency.
The People’s Bank of China has joined hands with seven state-owned firms to make the rollout of the pilot project a success in the designated cities. The report confirmed that the seven PBOC partners included four commercial bank entities and three telecom industry giants. It also clarified that the project would lay emphasis on core sectors like transportation, education, commerce, and healthcare in the initial phase of its rollout.
Interestingly, China, which at present stands tall as Asia’s largest economy, would take pride in being the first country to unveil its native digital currency project that would be put to the test in two cities by the end of 2019. The full-fledged launch of the digital currency is slated to happen in 2020. Some crypto experts have speculated that Facebook’s highly controversial stablecoin project Libra might be the jolt for the quick move by the Chinese government.
Where on the one hand, China is promoting the adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain, the regulatory authorities of the country are undertaking a different perspective towards the arena. The reports published in November stated that nearly five cryptocurrency exchanges had to shut stop their operations in the country because of the constant warnings given by the regulatory bodies. China has been urging its citizens to be aware of trading in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.
Apart from China, India too has distant itself from promoting the use of cryptocurrencies. Its banking regulator, the Reserve Bank of India, has restrained banks and financial entities from maintaining dealing operations with crypto exchanges and firms. However, in contrast to this, the Indian government announced that it was contemplating to launch its native digital currency soon.
FinTech Innovation Pilot Project
As per the PBOC’s official web portal, the regulatory institution is planning to create inclusive and prudential regulatory solutions aimed towards Fintech development. The tools will be focused on boosting professionalism, unification, and expansion of financial controls in the Fintech marketspace.
The bank is likely to launch a pilot project on FinTech innovation in the Beijing municipality. The project will help in strengthening the regulations for the benefit of the customers and will also help in maintaining sync with international standards. It will allow licensed entities to leverage information technology for the betterment of the industry as a whole. The bank aspires to create a trustable, secure, inclusive, and open ecosystem for the innovation-focused development of Fintech.
