China’s central bank pushes for accelerated blockchain integration

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The deputy governor of the People Bank of China (PBoC) has called on the country to accelerate its blockchain adoption strategy. In a recent meeting, Fan Yifei hailed the impact that blockchain and other emerging financial technologies have and urged for their speedy deployment.

Yifei was speaking during a meeting with the PBoC’s Financial Technology Committee, the first such meeting this year. As reported by Chinese outlet Sina, the main agenda of the meeting was acceleration of the digitalization of China’s economy.

One of the focuses for the Chinese government has been the deployment of blockchain technology, a topic which featured extensively during the meeting. The deputy governor urged the Committee to speed up the adoption of the technology to drive the growth of the fintech industry.

The Committee concluded that it’s crucial for the PBoC to monitor the dynamics of fintech development carefully before providing guidance on digital transformation. It further recommended the combination of blockchain with other emerging technologies to drive digitalization.

“It’s necessary to strengthen the application of regulatory science and technology, actively use big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, blockchain, and other technologies to strengthen the construction of digital supervision capabilities,” the Committee concluded.

The meeting comes just a day after the PBoC issued a warning against blockchain investment scams that have shot up in the recent past. In the ‘cheat sheet’, the regulator detailed some of the common features of blockchain scams and how to easily spot them. The watchdog listed 16 questions that investors must ask themselves before putting their money in a blockchain investment.

China has continued to fortify its position as a global leader in blockchain advancements ever since President Xi Jinping urged for adoption of the technology. Since then, the Asian economic giant has made huge strides, including enforcing regulations that foster growth of the industry.

In its biggest project yet, the country is edging closer to rolling out a digital yuan. The PBoC has been working on the project for years and is now partnering with the country’s largest banks for the rollout. One of these banks, the Agricultural Bank of China, has already rolled out a test app for the digital yuan for select users.