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For years, China has been wary of cryptocurrency and has posed restrictions regarding anything involving Bitcoin. However, the country is interested in blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies.
Just recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping urged that the country needs to seize opportunities presented by blockchain technology.
China has now passed a cryptography law, which will come into effect on January 1, 2020, CoinDesk reported. The law basically aims to address the regulatory and legal challenges related to cryptography, a key component of blockchain technology.
The law's latest draft proposal states:
“Clear guidelines and regulations are needed to evaluate commercial cryptography technologies used in the major fields related to the national interest as the current ‘loose’ system is not suitable for the industry anymore.”
China's aggressive push towards cryptography is likely to significantly boost the implementation of blockchain technology in the country as well.
Mark Zuckerberg’s warning
This new law is quite encompassing and will cover everything under the cryptography umbrella. It is important to note here that the proposal didn’t specifically mention cryptocurrency, which the country banned back in 2017.
The regulation also comes amidst Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s warning that China is trying to establish itself as the leader of all things crypto. Zuckerberg’s venture into the crypto-verse has been met with a lot of hostility from both private and government sectors given Facebook’s dicey reputation over the course of its existence.
China appears to be accelerating CBDC’s inception
The Facebook bigwig warned congress last week that if the United States lags behind China, its global leadership position may be threatened. But Congress is adamant in deeply scrutinizing Libra – Facebook’s cryptocurrency – with France and Germany already declaring it will ban the use of Libra in the country.
Returning to China, it appears that the new law will be setting up the arrival of the central bank digital currency (CBDC). While there’s no official launching of the CBDC just yet, China’s recent maneuver is undoubtedly going to accelerate the creation of the cryptocurrency in an attempt to push the financial sector in the digital space.
It would be interesting to see how this new law will affect the perspective of U.S. lawmakers as Zuckerberg’s warning is looming over everyone’s head.
