China’s central bank says it is still researching and testing digital currency; launch reports are 'fraudulent'
The People's Bank of China (PBoC), the country’s central bank, has officially said that it is “still in the process of research and testing” its digital yuan.
Announcing the news on Wednesday, the PBoC said that news reports stating that the central bank has issued its digital currency are “fraudulent.”
“The People's Bank of China has not issued legal digital currency (DC/EP) and has not authorized any asset trading platform to conduct transactions,” it added.
Some news outlets have also issued a timetable for the launch, which is "inaccurate," said the central bank. "The market transactions 'DC/EP' or 'DCEP' are illegally set digital currency, and the legal digital currency issuance time is inaccurate.”
The PBoC did not provide any details on a launch date or schedule, and said that any launch announcements in the name of the central bank might involve “fraud and pyramid schemes."
China has been researching and developing its digital currency since 2014 and is “almost ready” to launch it, Mu Changchun, head of the digital currency research institute at the PBoC, recently said. Just yesterday, Mu also said that the upcoming digital yuan will not fully control people’s information and will provide them with required anonymity in their transactions.
