Mobile users in China are worried about having to share too much personal information when downloading digital wallets, while the private sector has relatively low trust in privacy protection for anonymous payments, even if they are controlled by the central bank.
The director of the Digital Currency Research Institute at the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said that controllable anonymity was an important feature in the design of the e-yuan, also known as the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP).
When the digital yuan is used to make a payment, personal information becomes encrypted in an e-wallet before being delivered to an e-commerce platform. As a result, the e-commerce platform will not gain access to the personal information, protecting privacy.
However, large suspicious transactions will be traceable to maintain financial security. The PBOC official said complete anonymity was impractical if the e-yuan was to help prevent criminal behaviour such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax evasion.
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