Recent articles and speeches from officials at the People’s Bank of China, which is the country’s central bank, underscored the project’s ambitions and the desire to be first. “The right to issue and control digital currencies will become a ‘new battlefield’ of competition between sovereign states,” read an article in China Finance, the magazine of the central bank, in September. “China has many advantages and opportunities in issuing fiat digital currencies, so it should accelerate to seize the first track.”The People’s Bank of China did not respond to a request for comment. The development of a national digital currency began in 2014, when the People’s Bank of China set up an internal group to work on one, shortly after Bitcoin gained attention in the country. In 2016, the central bank created a division called the Digital Currency Institute.

Source: New York Times March 01, 2021 10:00 UTC