A thousand years ago, when money meant coins, China invented paper currency. Now the Chinese government is minting cash digitally, in a re-imagination of money that could shake a pillar of American power.
In my article on the top 10 prophetically significant issues of 2020, I talked about digital currency and the milestones it made last year. I also speculated that based on the trajectory of events as well as what the bible tells us is coming, 2021 would be a very significant year for digital currency and since the first of the year that’s exactly what we’ve been seeing.
First in January, we learned that Venezuela is planning a move to a full digital economy while the following month we also saw that Russia is on the path to making its entire currency digital. I first covered China’s efforts towards a digital currency in November of last year but as we can see the progress they’ve made on it has advanced and will be worth keeping our eyes on.
China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which 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
However this does not mean they’re completely cashless or that they’ve stopped circulating cash. The Wall Street Journal reported that “China has indicated the digital yuan will circulate alongside bills and coins for some time. Bankers and other analysts say Beijing aims to digitize all of its money eventually.” Their article also makes it clear that “more than 60 countries are at some stage of studying or developing a digital currency, according to research group CBDC Tracker.”
In my article, What is the Prophetic Significance of Digital Currency?, I elaborated on why I believe this digital currency race is prophetically significant. I believe that it may very well be a part of the mark of the beast system that comes about during the tribulation and that as we see efforts for this progress it shows us how close this time period is, and even closer the rapture of the church.
China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy
From The Wall Street Journal: It might seem money is already virtual, as credit cards and payment apps such as Apple Pay in the U.S. and WeChat in China eliminate the need for bills or coins. But those are just ways to move money electronically. China is turning legal tender itself into computer code.
Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have foreshadowed a potential digital future for money, though they exist outside the traditional global financial system and aren’t legal tender like cash issued by governments.
China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which 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, where the U.S. dollar has been king since World War II. China is embracing digitization in many forms, including money, in a bid to gain more centralized control while getting a head start on technologies of the future that it regards as up for grabs.
“In order to protect our currency sovereignty and legal currency status, we have to plan ahead,” said Mu Changchun, who is shepherding the project at the People’s Bank of China.
Digitized money could reorder the fundamentals of finance the way Amazon.com Inc. disrupted retailing and Uber Technologies Inc. rattled taxi systems.
That an authoritarian state and U.S. rival has taken the lead to introduce a national digital currency is propelling what was once a wonky topic for cryptocurrency theorists into a point of anxiety in Washington.
Asked in recent weeks how digitized national currencies such as China’s might affect the dollar, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell have said the issue is being studied in earnest, including whether a digital dollar makes sense someday. Read More
Sources
- China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy (April 5th, 2021) – The Wall Street Journal