Cash May Disappear in China as Payments Go Digital, PBOC Says
Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg
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Just because China’s financial regulators are cracking down on cryptocurrencies doesn’t mean they’re souring on the idea of digital money.
People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan made that clear at a press conference in Beijing on Friday, saying physical cash may one day become obsolete. Zhou said the PBOC is looking into digital currencies as it pursues faster, cheaper and more convenient payment methods, even as he warned that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin -- more often used for speculation than payments -- don’t serve the economy.