PBOC official says Chinas sovereign digital currency is almost ready

China’s central bank set up a research team in 2014 to explore the possibility of launching its own digital currency to cut the costs of circulating traditional paper money and boost policymakers’ control of money supply. However, it has so far revealed few details of its plans.

The deputy director of the People’s Bank of China’s payments department said the issuance of the digital currency will rely on a ‘two-tier’ system in which both the central bank and financial institutions will be legitimate issuers. Moreover, the digital currency would not solely rely on blockchain technology, as current blockchain technology would not be able to handle transaction volumes in China.