In an April 26 report, the Chinese authority revealed plans to probe the man behind the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), commonly known as Digital Yuan. According to local news outlet Shanghai Securities News, the architect of digital yuan, Yao Qian, was accused of breaching Chinese discipline and law.
The investigation will be led by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in collaboration with other government agencies.
Chinese Crypto Dad Under Government Probe
Even though the grounds for the ongoing investigation are unknown, the regulators claim that Qian committed a series of crimes that contravene the country’s discipline and law.
A review of Qian’s previous role demonstrated that the official guided the People Bank of China in conducting extensive research on creating and operating the digital yuan. Qian’s role in the development of the CBDC inspired other countries to kickstart the creation of digital currency.
At the PBOC, Qian was the research department director overseeing the development of CBDC. His pro-blockchain motive inspired him to conduct large-scale trials for the digital yuan to improve financial inclusivity.
Qian and his team led the PBOC team in testing the digital yuan on cross-border transactions. The testing of the digital yuan obliged the PBOC to partner with other central banks in Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, and Thailand.
Anti-draft Regulator Accuses Former Head of Digital Yuan for Non Compliance
Following the successful launching of the digital yuan, Quin was nicknamed a crypto dad for his commitment to eliminating China’s financial exclusion. He later left his role at PBOC to join the China Securities and Regulatory Commission as the head of the Science and Technology Supervision Bureau in 2018.
Qian’s career trajectory profiled the executive as the influential figure of the Chinese blockchain community. Despite the change in career, Qian remains committed to supporting the research and discussion on digital yuan.
From his research work, the ex-PBOC official advised the Chinese authority on the need to migrate the digital yuan to a blockchain network such as Ethereum (ETH) to improve the suitability of the CBDC.
Besides his involvement in CBDC research, Qian drafted various books covering the fundamental principles of crypto, decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), non-fungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi).
China Promotes Blockchain Adoption
In his recent publication, Qian formulated an opinion post titled “Warnings mounts over novel Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that have taken the United States by storm.” This article was published by the Chinese news outlet Caixin.
The launching of the digital yuan demonstrated China’s commitment to push for blockchain adoption.The Chinese government plans to invest heavily in developing blockchain applications and projects to become the world leader in this technology by next year. The Chinese government believes that blockchain technology will promote economic growth.
On the contrary, China has imposed restrictive measures on crypto offerings. The ban on crypto in mainland China aims at addressing financial crime and economic instability. The anti-crypto move in China has challenged its neighbouring countries, including Hong Kong, to take strategic advantage and promote the development of crypto assets.
For years, Hong Kong has positioned itself as a crypto-friendly country, attracting investors from all walks of the world. Hong Kong has imposed friendly rules for crypto assets to become the leading crypto hub in Asia.
A few weeks ago, the Hong Kong market regulators green-lighted the first Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. The approval of these financial products aims to provide investors with exposure to digital assets.
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