PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024

SPEZA To Accept China’s New Sovereign Digital Currency

China

FinTech company SPEZA announced that it will be able to accept China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP), the world’s first sovereign digital currency.

The digital asset solutions provider, exchange operator and regulator, based in Malaysia, will also accept all major digital assets listed on SPEZA Digital Asset Exchange.

“SPEZA is looking forward to working closely with the authorities and being among the first Digital Asset Exchanges in the world to adopt DCEP,” said attorney Edwin Alden V. Uy, CEO of SPEZA.

Huang Qifan, vice chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center (CCIEE), revealed at the Bund Financial Summit 2019 in Shanghai that the People’s Bank of China will be launching a yuan-pegged Sovereign Digital Currency, likely becoming the first central bank in the world to launch a digital currency.

“We must take blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, clarify the main directions, increase investment, focus on a number of key core technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation,” China’s President Xi Jinping said at the time.

In September, it was reported that the central bank would debut a state-backed crypto that initially will be issued to seven institutions in China, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China, Alibaba, Tencent, Union Pay and others. These firms would be tasked with distributing the crypto to citizens and others who want to transact using the digital coins.

And just last week, the People’s Bank of China announced that it will certify 11 types of financial technology hardware and software used for digital payment and blockchain services.

Recent filings show that China’s central bank will use its new verification system — the Certification of FinTech Products — on all of the products that could be used in digital payment technologies, including point-of-sale mobile terminals, embedded application software, user front-end software and security carriers and chips.

PYMNTS-MonitorEdge-May-2024