China's central bank to release virtual currency
The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, claims it is prepping to release its own virtual currency. The bank has been working on the virtual currency for five years as an alternative to paper cash, according to a report by CNBC.
The PBOC would launch the token through a two-tier system so both the central and commercial banks could issue it. The tokens will not rely on blockchain technology exclusively, according to the bank.
"Personally, I’m still struggling to understand the advantage of this over the current system," Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at trading platform eToro, said in the report. "Something tells me that this is a completely different animal from what we know as cryptocurrencies."
Mu Changchun, deputy director of the PBOC's payments department has said that the virtual currency is "almost ready" for release but has not given an official date.