- China is still developing its central bank-issued digital currency but no definitive launch date has been released.
- Facebook’s Libra targets to launch in 2020 but only after clearing concerns raised by regulators.
Facebook and China are somehow in a tug of war that will see either of them launch their respective digital currencies first. China has been studying central bank-issued currencies for over six years now while Facebook only announced the plan to launch Libra in June 2019.
China has been reported to be speeding up the development of the digital currency. However, there is no definitive launch date given by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). Facebook, on the other hand, hopes that Libra will have cleared the air with the regulators in order to launch in 2020.
The former Deputy Director of the Congressional Financial and Economic Affairs Committee in China Huang Qifan has expressed skepticism that Libra is unlikely to do well. He, however, believes that PBOC is the first to develop a credible central bank digital currency. Qifan was speaking at the Shanghai Bund Summit where he said:
“The People’s Bank of China has been studying DC/EP for five or six years, and I think it has matured. The People’s Bank of China is probably the first central bank to introduce digital currency in the world.”
He added:
“I don’t believe Libra will succeed.”
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