25 Sep 2020

China's quiet digital currency revolution

From Nine To Noon, 9:30 am on 25 September 2020
21097070 - yuan, china money background

Photo: 123RF

China is continuing to make significant strides in creating the world's first digital currency controlled by a central bank.

Trials of a digital yuan are now underway in four Chinese cities, with a design expected to be finalized by the end of 2020.

Unlike paper cash, a digital currency would allow the People's Bank of China to see how money is being used in real time.

So could this spell the end of physical cash and what would it mean if China had unprecedented granular access to the lives of its 1.3 billion people's spending habits?

Tax and cryptocurrency lawyer Campbell Pentney from Bell Gully talks to Kathryn Ryan.