The People's Bank of China has published a draft law for public comments that prohibits units or individuals from issuing yuan-pegged digital tokens to ward off risks associated with virtual currencies:
“No unit or individual is allowed to create or resell tokens, coupons and digital tokens to replace Chinese yuan's circulation in the market.”
The draft also stipulates that the renminbi, the official currency of China whose basic unit is yuan, includes both physical and digital forms.
As Chinese reporter Colin Wu notes, this is likely the first time that the cryptocurrency has appeared in China's formal laws.
China has already raced ahead of world powers with its digital yuan that aims to replace cash in circulation.
Earlier this month, the communist state issued 10 mln yuan worth of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to randomly chosen people in tech hub Shenzhen.
Alex DovbnyaLast October, China’s President Xi Jinping sparked a major crypto rally by singling out blockchain as one of the country’s priorities.
However, China’s ban on cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings (ICOs) that was imposed back in 2017 remains in place.
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin