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China to issue cryptocurrency to Alibaba, Tencent, and others

Wednesday 28 August 2019 11:27 CET | News

China’s central bank has announced it will launch a state-backed cryptocurrency and issue it to seven institutions in the coming months.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, Alibaba, Tencent, and Union Pay will receive the cryptocurrency. The technology behind the cryptocurrency – dubbed DC/EP (Digital Currency/Electronic Payments) – has been ready since 2018 and it could launch as soon as 11 November, China’s busiest shopping day, known as Singles Day.

At the time of launch, the recipient institutions will be responsible for dispersing the crypto to 1.3 billion Chinese citizens and others doing business in CNH, China’s fiat currency. Also, the DC/EP was designed to handle 300,000 transactions per second. In addition, like other permissioned blockchains, the DC/EP is centrally managed by the central bank, which means that the digital currency remains a liability of the bank and the debtor/creditor relationship is unchanged.


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Keywords: Alibaba, Tencent, China, government, cryptocurrency, banks, digital assets, fiat currency, central bank, blockchain, debit, credit, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China
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