China may develop a fully digital currency.
Reports are that the Royal Chinese Mint is “concentrating on the research and exploration [at] the forefront of digital money, taking part widely in innovation and practice in the fields such as digital currency, mobile finance, smart-city construction and Internet based finance; it also actively promotes the application of blockchain technology in finance and related fields.”
Ant Financial has an interest in ethereum. It and WeChat coordinate Chinese payments where digital transactions have already become popular.
Many use app wallets rather than bank accounts. But the Chinese central bank may not let this happen for long.
Yes, it is possibly developing a digital yuan using some ethereum technology. But this is a country with a rigid monetary orthodoxy that put money in the hands of the state whenever possible.
The idea that China would somehow tolerate let alone license an ethereum-based currency is a kind of magical thinking. A fully digital, non-state currency will not occur unless China becomes a much different place.
Of course that may indeed happen, but in the near term, China is in many ways more rigid, not less.
blockcitynews.com