January 12, 2022
China's Digital Currency and Authoritarianism
China is the first major economy to develop and implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC). Its CBDC has many names: Digital Currency/Electronic Payment (DCEP), the digital yuan or renminbi, and electronic Chinese yuan (eCNY).
A new video explainer from CNAS explores how Beijing’s CBDC efforts will have critical ramifications for the Chinese Communist Party’s digital authoritarianism. As China is in a national blitz to digitize its entire economy, it is strengthening its hand for domestic social control while also influencing financial technology innovation in the global financial system.
To find out more about the ground truths of China’s CBDC, you can read the January 2021 CNAS report: China’s Digital Currency: Adding Financial Data to Digital Authoritarianism.
Learn More
Energy, Economics & Security
China’s Digital Currency
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China Is Making Smart Money
As a U.S. national security matter, China’s progress in the digital renminbi is more about China’s ambition to harness data than it is about advancing its currency....
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The Promises and Perils of Central Bank Digital Currencies
Chairman Himes, Ranking Member Barr, the distinguished members of the subcommittee, and my fellow panelists, it is an honor to participate in today’s hearing. Please allow me ...
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