Digital Yuan Showcases the Real Value of Bitcoin

The Beijing Winter Olympics are set to conclude on Sunday after two weeks of showcasing the best of human sportsmanship and, of course, controversy.

But the event has also been used to showcase something altogether different: China’s new digital currency.

The digital yuan had already been trialed in various cities across China last year, but the Games have been the first time it has been piloted on a global stage with mainly foreign users.

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The People’s Bank of China’s new currency might have many advantages, including convenience and speed of payments, but what it does not have is privacy. Indeed, the digital yuan will serve to give Chinese authorities even greater oversight of citizens’ transactions.

Yaya Fanusie, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, recently said in an interview: “The government is going to be able to trace all transactions, generally, whether they are anonymized or not.”

Read the full story and more from The Asia Times.