Circular on rectifying digital currency
In China, digital currency is illegal. According to the regulations, financial institutions and non bank payment institutions shall not directly or indirectly provide procts or services such as account opening, registration, trading, clearing and settlement for token issuance financing and "virtual currency"
it is not allowed to underwrite insurance business related to token and "virtual currency" or include token and "virtual currency" in insurance liability. Financial institutions and non bank payment institutions shall report to the relevant departments in a timely manner if they find clues of violation of laws and regulations in token issuance financing transactions
extended information:
since the announcement on preventing the financing risk of token issuance was issued, any so-called token financing trading platform shall not engage in the exchange business between legal tender and token and "virtual currency", and shall not buy or sell tokens or "virtual currency" as a central counter party, It is not allowed to provide pricing, information intermediary and other services for token or "virtual currency"
for the token financing trading platform with illegal problems, the financial management department will request the competent department of telecommunications to close its website platform and mobile app according to law, request the network information department to remove the mobile app from the app store, and request the instrial and commercial administration department to revoke its business license according to law
on September 4, 2017, the people's Bank of China and other seven ministries and commissions issued the "notice on preventing the financing risk of token issuance", which cleaned up the ICO and virtual currency trading venues. The scale of domestic virtual currency transactions decreased significantly, effectively avoiding the impact of virtual currency prices on China's financial market.
the media's attention to the central bank's digital currency has increased significantly, especially after Zuckerberg testified in Congress on the Libra issue and Christina Lagarde acknowledged the "clear demand" for stable currency at her first media reception as president of the European Central Bank, which seems to have changed the public's view on this matter, Let many people in cryptocurrency community think that cbdcs is in sight<
according to the latest survey report released by the bank for International Settlements, central banks in the past seven years have been investigating this technology and assessing its impact. Of the 63 central banks surveyed, 55 said they were unlikely to issue cbdcs in the next three years, and only one reported that they were "highly likely to issue large-scale cbdcs in the next three to six years."
although the proportion of central banks studying cbdcs is very high, the crux of the problem is that it is mainly theoretical and investigative work. Only five central banks have concted more in-depth research and real project development or experimentation - but that still does not mean that they will necessarily issue cbdcs
through close observation, it is more and more obvious that both Libra recently released by Facebook and the new stable currency assets have had a significant impact on the central bank. Today's situation took hundreds of years to form, but it changed in a few months; Competition, the most terrifying and unfamiliar concept that has never been thought of before and penetrated into the elite society of central banks, is now knocking at the door
it can be said that the solution to the current situation is still unclear. Some people who are familiar with these things even say that they are bluffing. However, in Lagarde's own words, the slow and wait-and-see regulatory approach can no longer meet the needs
1. What is central bank digital currency<
what is the difference between central bank digital currency CBDC and other digital currencies
CBDC is a new form of currency, which is directly issued by the central bank in digital form as legal tender. The current form of legal currency is cash, reserve deposit or balance settlement< There are two main differences between CBDC and other digital currencies (including cryptocurrency and other forms of central bank currency):
1. CBDC has nothing to do with cryptoassets. They're not decentralized, they don't have to be blockchain based, and they're certainly not anonymous, they're not unlicensed, they're not censored< 2. Contrary to the current digital cash, the operation structure of CBDC will be different from other forms of central bank currency. CBDC has more powerful functions. They are programmable, can generate interest, can be cleared in near real time, and have cheaper handling charges and wider openness
when designing CBDC, the speed of central banks is different. Different central banks adopt their own approach. However, in general, there are three problems being explored: whether CBDC should be based on token or account number, whether CBDC should be batch (only open to banks) or retail (open to the public), and whether it should be based on DLT
when CBDC is to be implemented, things will become complicated, and there are many thorny problems to be considered
for example, once CBDC is launched, does it need to cancel cash? Should CBDC carry interest? Should they have face value like cash? Or linked to the total price index? What impact will this have on commercial banks? What about anonymity and privacy? All these questions need to be answered<
2. Motivation for issuing CBDC
in the 2017 staff discussion paper, the Bank of Canada gave six reasons for issuing CBDC in an article entitled "central bank digital currency: motivation and impact":
1. Ensure that the central bank provides sufficient cash to the public, and maintain the seigniorage revenue of the central bank
2, Support non-traditional monetary policy
3. Rece overall risk and improve financial stability
4. Improve payment competitiveness
5. Promote financial inclusiveness
6. Curb criminal activities
looking back at the bank for International Settlements survey we analyzed earlier, payment security and domestic efficiency are selected as the most important motives of the central bank. According to a large number of papers published by the central bank and other large financial institutions, for developed countries, the transformation into a cashless society is the main driving factor, while for developing countries, financial inclusiveness, cost rection and operational efficiency are the main motivation
throughout the rest of the reports and the literature that can be found, the fierce competition brought about by bitcoin and other innovations in the cryptocurrency instry, as well as the clear need for "one step ahead", of course, are not listed as the reasons for issuing CBDC< The advantages and potential risks of CBDC are very low.
if the central bank starts to launch CBDC and succeeds in the end, there are many potential benefits
from a technical point of view, CBDC is much better than the current form of legal currency. They can be tracked better, collect taxes more conveniently, transmit monetary policy better, have better financial inclusiveness, and rece the cost of procing physical currency
the most obvious advantage is that payment is cheaper and faster, whether it is domestic payment or cross-border payment
in addition to the design and implementation problems, a key problem of issuing CBDC is that CBDC may increase the risk of bank operation. However, this only happens when banks promise that their deposits can be converted into CBDC on demand, which is not necessarily the case, according to the Bank of England document
4. Facts on the ground
how far is it from us to see a real CBDC appear in the market? It's hard to estimate, but at present, we can sum up the current situation in one sentence: all talk but no practice
if we put aside the failed digital currencies of Ecuador, Tunisia and Venezuela, we can only do theoretical research, a small amount of experiments, and issue some feasible CBDC issuance announcements supported by the state in the future
the most famous CBDC projects in progress are: e-peso in Uruguay (the project was successfully tested in 2018), DCEP in China, "project Inthanon" in Thailand, e-krona in Sweden (still in the research stage)...
5. The revolution has not yet been successful, and comrades still need to work hard
considering the factors mentioned above, Most of the headlines about CBDC's upcoming release are groundless. All projects scheled to be released this year have been delayed
in fact, there is still a long way to go for the birth of CBDC, and to convince the public, we need more than a statement. Given the current situation, it seems that CBDC and other cryptocurrencies may not affect each other - at least for now.
the people's Bank of China has been studying legal digital currency since 2014. According to the relevant person in charge of the digital currency Research Institute of the people's Bank of China, at present, the research and development of digital RMB is steadily advancing. Under the premise of adhering to double-layer operation, currency (M0) substitution in circulation and controllable anonymity, the digital RMB system has basically completed the top-level design, standard formulation, function research and development, joint debugging and testing, etc., and followed the principles of steady, safe, controllable, innovative and stable development The principle of practicality
the relevant person in charge of the digital currency Research Institute of the people's Bank of China stressed that the current online transmission of DC / EP information is the test content in the process of technology research and development, which does not mean the official launch of digital RMB. The current closed test of digital RMB will not affect the commercial operation of listed companies, nor will it affect the RMB issuance and circulation system, financial market and social economy outside the test environment< In short, the digital currency of the people's Bank of China is the electronic version of RMB
when it comes to digital currency, your first reaction may be bitcoin or Libra, which Facebook plans to launch< However, unlike these so-called digital currencies, the digital currency to be launched by the Central Bank of China has national credit endorsement, which can be said to be the electronic version of RMB. Therefore, the digital currency of the central bank has the nature of legal compensation
more importantly, with the endorsement of the state, the value of the central bank's digital currency will be more stable. Bitcoin and other so-called virtual currencies can not guarantee the stability of currency value, so it is common to be "cut leeks"
from the perspective of usage scenarios, the central bank's digital currency does not pay interest, and can be used in small, retail and high-frequency business scenarios, which is no different from paper money. At the same time, the use should comply with all the existing regulations on cash management, anti money laundering and anti-terrorism financing.