Latest news with #digitalyuan
South China Morning Post
6 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's stablecoin ambitions offer Beijing a channel to bring yuan into crypto world
China is not a fan of cryptocurrencies. Over the past decade, the Chinese government has built up one of the world's most hostile regulatory frameworks against cryptocurrency-related activities, including trading and mining. Beijing views digital assets like bitcoin as a threat to the country's financial stability and capital account controls, and even a challenge to the nation's currency sovereignty. Advertisement In the face of challenges from bitcoin and other privately-issued digital currencies such as Facebook's Diem, formally known as Libra, China's central bank has started to promote the use of a 'sovereign' digital yuan. But the digital yuan 'experiment' has for years struggled to find relevance as a form of payment in domestic and international transactions. Against this backdrop, Beijing's tolerance of and supportive attitude towards the stablecoin ambitions of Hong Kong is interesting to observe. Last month, the city's lawmakers passed the Stablecoins Bill , which will take effect later this year, paving the way for stablecoins backed by the Hong Kong dollar and other assets in the city. The green light comes at a time when the second administration of US President Donald Trump has adopted a friendly stance towards stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that maintains a fixed value by being pegged to a reference asset such as the US dollar. This photo illustration shows Chinese 100 yuan notes and US 100 dollar notes, in Beijing on April 8, 2025. Photo: AFP China is taking notice. While Beijing has yet to make any official comment on stablecoins, there are research papers making the argument that stablecoins, backed by US dollar assets, represent an extension of US dollar hegemony in the blockchain realm. Advertisement The world's top-10 stablecoins in terms of market capitalisation are all backed by US dollar assets, except Pax Gold that is backed by gold. There are also stablecoins backed by euro assets, but the market cap of these is tiny compared to US dollar ones.
Coin Geek
20-05-2025
- Business
- Coin Geek
BSV: Solution to censorship, digital identity challenges
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... As digital transformation accelerates, concerns about censorship and digital identity management have surged, particularly with the rise of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Governments and institutions seek to control financial systems, often at the expense of individual privacy and freedom. BSV, a blockchain built to scale and adhere to Satoshi Nakamoto's original Bitcoin vision, offers a robust solution to these challenges. By leveraging its unparalleled scalability, transparency, and decentralized architecture, BSV addresses censorship risks and provides a secure framework for digital identity, positioning it as a counterbalance to the potential overreach of CBDCs. This article explores how BSV tackles these issues and its transformative potential for the future. The growing threat of censorship and CBDC control Censorship in digital systems, particularly in finance, is a pressing issue. Governments and centralized platforms increasingly monitor and restrict transactions, communications, and access to funds based on political, social, or arbitrary criteria. CBDCs, digital currencies issued and controlled by central banks, amplify these risks. Unlike cash, CBDCs are fully traceable and programmable, enabling authorities to freeze accounts, limit spending, or enforce policy compliance. For instance, China's digital yuan trials have demonstrated how CBDCs can integrate with social credit systems, raising fears of surveillance and state overreach. The fear is that CBDC could centralize power, stifling dissent by controlling financial access. Digital identity systems tied to CBDCs further complicate the landscape. While intended to streamline authentication and reduce fraud, centralized digital IDs often lack transparency and give governments unchecked authority over personal data. Without robust safeguards, these systems risk becoming tools for surveillance, where individuals' financial and personal activities are monitored and potentially censored. The need for a decentralized, censorship-resistant alternative has never been more urgent, and BSV is uniquely positioned to meet this demand. BSV's censorship-resistant architecture BSV's design as a scalable, proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain makes it inherently resistant to censorship. Unlike centralized systems or even some blockchains with governance bottlenecks, BSV operates on a permissionless network where miners validate transactions incentivized to maintain integrity. Its unbounded block size—reaching 4GB in recent tests—enables high transaction throughput, with the BSV Infrastructure Team reporting 1,000,000 transactions per second (TPS) on Teranode. This scalability ensures that BSV can handle global financial activity without congestion, reducing the risk of transaction censorship due to network limitations. BSV's immutable ledger ensures that a transaction cannot be altered or erased once a transaction is recorded, protecting users from retroactive censorship. This transparency contrasts with CBDCs, where central banks can manipulate transaction records or freeze funds. BSV's Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) allows users to verify transactions independently, further decentralizing control. BSV's immutable proof-of-work is a mainstay against censorship, ensuring users retain financial sovereignty. Moreover, BSV's low transaction fees—often less than $0.00011—make it accessible for micropayments, enabling peer-to-peer transactions without reliance on intermediaries prone to censorship. This is critical when individuals face financial exclusion, such as in authoritarian regimes. By providing a censorship-resistant alternative to CBDCs, BSV empowers users to transact freely, preserving economic and personal autonomy. BSV and decentralized digital identity Digital identity is a cornerstone of modern systems, but centralized models tied to CBDCs pose risks. BSV offers a decentralized, blockchain-based identity solution that prioritizes user control and privacy. Its ability to store and timestamp data on-chain allows for secure, verifiable identities without centralized oversight. Identity protocols enable users to create self-sovereign identities (SSIs) tied to cryptographic keys. These SSIs allow individuals to control their data, sharing only what is necessary for specific transactions or services. Unlike CBDC-linked identities, which may require government-issued credentials and expose users to surveillance, BSV's approach ensures privacy through selective disclosure. For example, a user could prove their age for a transaction without revealing their full identity, using zero-knowledge proofs integrated into BSV's smart contracts. This minimizes data exposure while maintaining trust, addressing concerns that CBDC could track everyone. BSV's scalability also supports global digital identity systems. With the capacity to process millions of TPS, BSV can handle identity verifications for billions of users, from financial services to healthcare and voting. Its tamper-proof ledger ensures that identity records remain secure and unalterable, preventing unauthorized access or manipulation. Enterprises and governments can adopt BSV-based identity systems to reduce fraud while respecting user autonomy, contrasting CBDC frameworks prioritizing control. The Future: BSV as a counterbalance to CBDCs BSV's potential to solve censorship and digital identity challenges positions it as a critical player in the evolving financial landscape. As CBDCs gain traction—over 100 countries are exploring them, per the IMF—BSV's decentralized alternative becomes increasingly vital. Its regulation-friendly design, built to comply with existing laws, makes it appealing to institutions seeking secure, transparent systems without sacrificing user freedom. Projects like Teranode and the BSV Association's ongoing development ensure that the blockchain will continue to scale, meeting future demands. The BSV ecosystem is already demonstrating real-world impact. Applications can leverage BSV for censorship-resistant social platforms and data storage and enable asset tokenization with built-in identity verification. These use cases highlight BSV's versatility beyond finance, addressing broader digital rights concerns. Conclusion BSV stands as a powerful antidote to the censorship and digital identity challenges posed by CBDCs. Its scalable, censorship-resistant blockchain ensures financial and personal freedom, while its decentralized identity protocols empower users to control their data. As governments push for centralized control through CBDCs, BSV offers a transparent, secure alternative that aligns with the principles of autonomy and trust. By continuing to innovate and expand its ecosystem, BSV is poised to reshape the future of digital finance and identity, proving that decentralization remains the key to preserving individual rights in a digital age. Watch: Finding ways to use CBDC outside of digital currencies title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
