2018 regulatory changes affected the price of digital currencies this year. Bitcoin that was able to reach near $20K in 2017 has dropped to just around $6,200 this year. In addition to this, there are countries that completely banned crypto-related activities such as China.
China even reiterated its intention to ban crypto-related activities when it banned malls from hosting crypto-related meetings. However, will there be a state-backed cryptocurrency in China? According to a report on South China Morning Post on October 12, China’s central bank hired cryptographers and blockchain engineers.
Will There Be a BitYuan Soon?
The vacancies were seen in the People’s Bank of China’s annual hiring list of 2019. The Central bank is actively looking for talented employees working on finance, cryptography, and other relevant niches to the crypto market. The candidates should possess a master’s degree or higher in order to get hired according to the job description. It is also preferred by China’s central bank to hire people with prior experience in big data technologies as well as blockchain.
The employees are going to be tasked in the creation of encryption models, perform research and development of software, and manufacturing of chips that are required to make a “digital fiat”.
This means that the potential employees are going to handle digital currency-related software protocols, security models, and even conduct research and development for a transaction-enabling terminal chip.
Those who are experts in finance, economics, and law will be the ones to make a legal research regarding the possible economic implication of such digital currency.
Maximizing Blockchain?
If this is what we think it is, China isn’t going to be the first country to have a state-backed cryptocurrency. Both Venezuela and Iran have both attempted to have their own cryptocurrency as well. Venezuela’s Petro is backed by oil, while it also back its new currency that is called the Sovereign Bolivar.
Generally, governments all over the world are quite hesitant to fully adopt cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether mainly because of its volatility and the possibility of price manipulation. Central banks are quite worried regarding the lack of centralized control on this financial asset.
PBoC’s Efforts Started in 2014
The People Bank of China’s effort to explore digital currencies began a few years back in 2014. It was a year after the Digital Currency Research Institution was formed. The group then posted job openings for those that have a background in mathematics majors and computer science.
Though nothing is clear at this moment whether or not there will be a cryptocurrency that is backed by China, PBoC chief Zhou Xiaochaun stated in March 2018 that an ideal digital currency needs to meet all the stability policies and also protect consumers from instances of fraud.
China isn’t the only one that is concerned regarding fraud in the crypto market. You also have the US Securities and Exchange Commission denying a number of Bitcoin ETF applications citing their reason as the possibility of price manipulation.
The PBoC is no stranger to implementing blockchain solutions. In September, the bank even attempted to launch a cross-border trading and finance platform that runs on blockchain.
