In an online video session conducted by the Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies on its 30th Anniversary Conference, Gang Yi (the Governor of People’s Bank of China) discussed the latest developments about the CBDC (central bank digital currency) of the country, called e-CNY (digital yuan). He particularly talked about the matter of privacy engulfing the Digital Yuan and stated that they are giving prominence to the issues of personal information as well as security with having developed suitable technological and regulatory adjustments to encounter the respective target.
He added that they have constructed an anonymity principle for minor transactions related to the digital yuan, and will just intervene to regulate the bigger transactions. In the matter of gathering personal data, he assured, they will look only to collect the necessary as well as the least possible and legally required information, which is much less than that required by the contemporary payment applications.
Gang opined over the storage as well as the use of personal data relating to tech consumers by revealing that they are pursuing strict control over the personal information use as well as storage. Except for the law’s demand for it, such information will not be handed over by PBoC to any mediator agency. During the previous years, he further mentioned, the country has approved several laws to assist in the protection and safety of personal information with regards to a regulatory viewpoint. Numerous people having e-CNY accounts have reached more than 140M during the previous months. Parallel to this, the transaction volume of the digital token has crossed 62B yuan (nearly $9.7 billion) as of October.
While providing insights regarding the subsequent steps to be taken for enhancing the progress in CBDC, Gang elaborated that although the local digital currency of the country is yet limited chiefly to the consumers who are making an expenditure in the retail sector of China, there are strategies devised to expand it across the border. The PBoC intends to collaborate with central banks, crypto entities, and international agencies around the world. An mCBDC Bridge has in advance been released on the behalf of PBoC having the Bank for International Settlements, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, The Bank of Thailand, and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, as collaborators.
