China appoints new digital currency head as race with Facebook’s Libra heats up
- Mu Changchun will replace Yao Qian as the head of the People’s Bank of China’s research subsidiary on digital currency
- Facebook is planning to launch Libra next year, with some suggesting it could strengthen the US dollar’s dominance and sabotage China’s ambition for the yuan
China has taken another step towards creating its own rival for Facebook’s Libra by appointing a new head of the central bank’s research subsidiary on digital currency.
Mu Changchun will replace Yao Qian, who was the first director of the People’s Bank of China’s (PBOC) research institute on digital currency, according to a report published on Friday by the official Shanghai Securities News.
The research institute was set up at the end of 2016 to study the possibility of issuing a sovereign digital currency when commercial tradeable cryptocurrencies started gaining traction before China banned trading in such currencies.
Yao, formerly the deputy chief of the central bank’s technology division, has joined the China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation as general manager.