After cryptocurrency gained a lot of attention and acceptance, many tech firms and financial institutes have been vying to launch their own digital currency. Many countries are also contemplating on creating their virtual currencies; China is leading this race. China started seriously working on the plans of launching its own cryptocurrency after Facebook revealed plans to create Libra.

After a statement from Huang Qifan, vice-chairman of China’s Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), that China would be the first country to launch its own cryptocurrency; it seemed that China was racing to develop their virtual currency.

Recently, the ex-deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, Zhu Min, suggested that the country should take an interest in the global proceedings of Libra. According to Zhu Min,

I think it’s critically important to join the discussions and take part in coordinated global regulation of Libra.

This thought was backed by the current chief economist for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Ba Shusong. He too believes that a multilateral institution needs to be set up to monitor digital currencies like Libra.

Almost after the announcement of Facebook’s Libra, Chinese President, Xin Jinping, advised for the development and adoption of blockchain-backed technology.

Later on, there was news that China is contemplating investing more than $2 billion by 2023 for the advancement of blockchain technology. Yet, cryptocurrencies are a forbidden topic among the regulators in China.

China is working on developing its own central bank-backed cryptocurrency. This move will throw China to a different league, way ahead of the United States, which does not support the whole concept of cryptocurrency.