12.6　Digital Currency Electronic Payment

Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP)is a national digital currency of China built with Blockchain and Cryptographic technology.This could be considered the world’s first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)as it is issued by state bank People’s Bank of China(PBOC).The overall objective of the currency is to increase the circulation of the RMB and international reach—with eventual hopes that the RMB will become a global currency like the US Dollar.China has recently established an initiative to push forward Blockchain adoption,with the goal of beating competitors like Facebook Libra—a currency that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims will become the next big FinTech innovation.DCEP is not listed on cryptocurrency exchanges and will not be for speculation of value.

DCEP will have NFC based payment options that don’t require devices to be online during the transfer.This will be poised as a direct replacement of paper money, as DCEP will be usable in areas without internet coverage.In addition, DCEP doesn’t require the mobile device to be bound to a bank account—meaning the unbanked population will also have access to the digital currency.

DCEP is a digital currency that is run on a centralized private network—the Central Bank of China has complete access and control of the currency.This is a huge contrast to Bitcoin,which has an open decentralized network where there is no centralized leader.In the case with DCEP, the Central bank of China has the ability to create or destroy DCEP.Currently DCEP is only available to other banks working with the People’s Bank of China.This will eventually open up to the general public.There are currently no cryptocurrency exchanges that trade DCEP.