China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said it has completed the “top-level” design of its proposed digital currency, according to reports.
The PBOC released the information in a recently released paper, saying that the “top-level design, standard formulation, functional research and development” of the digital yuan coin has been completed.
Mu Changchun, the head of the digital currency research institute at the PBOC, said the focus will be on “stability, security and control.” The bank recently said the currency was “progressing smoothly.”
There is not yet a specific release date for the currency. “We will continue to steadily advance the development of legal digital currencies” this year, the PBOC said.
The digital yuan has been in development since 2014. It will first be distributed to commercial banks, and then to users who can register digital wallets with the banks.
The first cities to use the currency will be Shenzhen and Suzhou. The PBOC has partnered with a number of banks and telecom companies to test the currency, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom.
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In October, China’s congress passed a cryptography law to promote the development of crypto and to make sure cybersecurity measures were in place.
The purpose of the law is to regulate cryptography usage, to help boost business in the industry and to ensure that cybersecurity is established.
The law says “the state encourages and supports the research and application of the science and technology in cryptography and protects the intellectual property rights in cryptography.”
It also underlines the importance of training in the field and notes that there will be rewards for “outstanding contributions.” The regulation states that cryptography will be organized into three sections: commercial crypto, core and common.
