(ECNS) -- China's central bank, the People's Bank of China, is working on technological research to support digital currency, as well as its application, in an effort to issue it "as soon as possible," Guangming Daily has reported.
The central bank put the study of digital currency on its agenda in 2014, formed a research team, and boosted the effort in early 2015.
Progress has been achieved in creating a guiding framework, the issuing and operation of digital currency, core technology, legal issues, and effects on economic and financial systems.
Digital currency has many advantages over traditional hard currency, including cost savings, trade facilitation, increased transparency, and less money laundering and tax evasion, according to the central bank.
So far, no central bank in the world has issued electronic currency, and products available in the market enjoy neither legal protection nor can they be freely circulated, said Guo Tianyong, director of the Research Center of the Chinese Banking Industry at the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.
The attitude of the central bank to virtual currency is world-leading and sets a precedent in government-initiated efforts, he added.
Zeng Gang, director of the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said the rise of economic activity online has brought about reform of trading methods and currency forms.
He thinks it necessary for the central bank to regulate the development of digital currency and maintain overall control.
Huang Zhen, a professor at the Central University of Finance and Economics, said virtual money can help the Chinese currency go global.
The central bank's move is also welcomed by business organizations. Chen Peng, a spokesperson for WeSUCH, a Chinese Internet technology company, said the central bank's move means digital currency can be better regulated and will help provide easy, safe online payment methods.
