, Columnist
'Bityuan' Won't Kill China's Banks. Yet
The PBOC's own digital currency would be a boon to lenders, until Beijing decided to go further.
This article is for subscribers only.
Now it's becoming clear that China's central bank will be one of the first to issue a digital currency, it's legitimate to ask if "bityuan" will send the country's banking system over the edge. The short answer: Not just yet.
An initial version of bityuan will probably be a tame affair. Research at the People's Bank of China favors a system where the monetary authority would issue the cryptocurrency to banks, which would supply it to their customers.