The Chinese government is planning to launch a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) this November, according to Forbes.
The decision to launch a CBDC comes just months after Facebook revealed its own plans to launch a cryptocurrency, dubbed the Libra project.
However, Libra was heavily scrutinised during a recent US Senate hearing, with government officials lamenting the lack of regulatory foresight and the fact that it is based in Switzerland and not the United States.
Binance Research has released a report on China’s planned CBDC, which reads: “Following Facebook’s recent Libra whitepaper release, the Chinese central bank accelerated its plans to launch its own digital currency amidst growing concerns about continued capital outflows that could weaken the renminbi (RMB).”
EXCLUSIVE: Alibaba, Tencent and the largest bank in the world among the first enterprises that will receive the Chinese government's new cryptocurrency: https://t.co/ZSR1I7jEtA by @DelRayMan via @Forbes pic.twitter.com/85fFHSCzuS
— Forbes Crypto (@ForbesCrypto) August 27, 2019
The planned launch date for the CBDC is November 11, which is the busiest shopping day of the year in China – known as Singles’ Day.
Forbes also revealed that China’s CBDC could handle approximately 300,000 transactions per second, making it five times faster than Visa.
Interestingly, the launch of China’s digital currency coincides with comments from the Bank of England’s Mark Carney, who suggested that the US dollar could one day be replaced with a digital currency.
An unidentified source told Forbes that the CBDC will be issued to seven institutions including the People’s Bank of China, Alibaba, and the Agricultural Bank of China, with an eighth institution also in the pipeline.
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