Officials at the People’s Bank of China have issued an official statement disclaiming rumours that China has begun issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
“Recently, the net news said that the People’s Bank of China has issued (a) legal digital currency,” the communiqué states, “and some organizations have used the name of the People’s Bank to trade the relevant digital products on the digital asset trading platform with ‘DC/EP’ or ‘DCEP.'”
In fact, the PBOC is, “still in the process of research and testing,” a CBDC, as it has been since 2014:
“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. The People’s Bank of China has been studying the legal digital currency since 2014 and is still in the process of research and testing. The market transactions ‘DC/EP’ or ‘DCEP’ are illegally set digital currency, and the legal digital currency issuance time is inaccurate.”
The PBOC also warns the public to avoid any platform selling a “fraudulent” Chinese CBDC, an to engage, “consciousness, unbiased and credulous, to prevent damage to (one’s) interests”:
“The current network of so-called legal digital currency issuance, and individual institutions fraudulently launching ‘DC/EP’ or ‘DCEP’ on the asset trading platform in the name of the People’s Bank of China, may involve fraud and pyramid schemes.”
The Central Bank of Tunisia issued a similar communiqué recently to dispel rumours claiming it has enlisted a “foreign company” to help with issuance of a Tunisian CBDC:
“Following rumors about the adoption by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) of a digital money solution and its commitment with a foreign company for the implementation of this solution, the BCT refutes all these allegations and (this) unfounded information.”
Like its Chinese counterpart, the Central Bank of Tunisia said it is studying, “all existing alternatives,” when it comes to, “digitization of the economy… particularly in terms of cyber security and financial stability”:
“However, this alternative is still in the phase of reflection.”
The Central Bank of Tunisia reminds the public that:
“The issuing institution recalls that only its official representatives are entitled to speak on its behalf and its official position on the adoption of this technology.”
The bank, meanwhile, “is preparing to launch, at the beginning of 2020, its ‘BCT-LAB’ and its regulatory ‘Sandbox,’ (which) remains open to all technological innovations in the banking and financial sector.”