This via the Wall Street Journal on "China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy"

China's PBOC will issue the new electronic money

  • It is expected to give China's government vast new tools to monitor both its economy and its people. By design, the digital yuan will negate one of bitcoin's major draws: anonymity for the user.
  • Beijing is also positioning the digital yuan for international use and designing it to be untethered to the global financial system
  • the digital yuan will circulate alongside bills and coins for some time

And, this is very interesting:

  • The money itself is programmable. Beijing has tested expiration dates to encourage users to spend it quickly, for times when the economy needs a jump-start.

Here is the link for more

Meanwhile, an update on a far more popular digital currency (BTC in case you are wondering)

This via the Wall Street Journal on China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy