A reference textbook for members of China’s Communist party, titled “Digital Currency: A Reader for Cadres,” has entered its second printing, according to Bloomberg.
The book, 200 pages long, is an “important learning reference” for government officials, according to a listing on Dangdang. “Digital currency is inevitable in the course of history,” reads a blurb, according to Bloomberg.
The book comprises a series of articles written by senior experts: the Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China, the General Manager of China’s securities commission, and the Director of the Digital Finance Research Center at the elite Peking University, are among authors.
Bloomberg’s report follows a flurry of activity surrounding China’s upcoming digital currency, known as DCEP. China’s central bank announced last week that it has completed a large amount of its development, according to Chinese media outlet JRJ. The government will trial it in Shenzhen and Suzhou, reported Caijing.
Officials haven’t had long to school themselves on the merits of blockchain and digital currency: President Xi Jinping only publicly endorsed the industry in October 2019—right around the same time that the first printing of this book was first launched.
And why would they have bothered to learn? Cryptocurrency exchanges were banned in 2017—and still are; the mining industry only recently was struck from an “industries to discourage” list, and a recent government-sponsored TV channel referring to many projects as “air coins,” “illegal Ponzi schemes,” and “financial fraud.”
The book was written by Ren Zhongwen, who previously authored titles such as “Happiness Comes from Struggle.” Hopefully the same won’t apply to China’s new digital currency.