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The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is the first major central bank to hint at issuing its own digital currency. Consumers fear an end to the anonymity of cash, but officials say that their goal is ‘controllable anonymity’.

Based on data from patents that have already been filed, Chinese businesses and citizens would download digital wallets which can be replenished from bank branches and then used to make digital cash payments.

Read the full news here (https://beincrypto.com/chinas-central-bank-will-allow-controllable-anonymity-with-digital-currency/?utm_campaign=amba&utm_medium=social&utm_source=bitcointalk&utm_content=jc)

I don't know what are you going to say about this guys regarding "controllable anonymity". Do you think it's a good thing for Chinese consumers? As China is pushing to invest big time on blockchain by 2023, along with removing the "cryptocurrency mining" ban and circulating a Bitcoin article to their citizens, I think it's a good sign.

I strongly believe that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would be massively adopted much faster as China is back in the game as one of the biggest crypto players around the corner.

Obviously not true, "control" is the one thing they don't want losing, much less to indentured peasants... This is a talk like it was monero, most people seem to be unaware that with Monero your transactions are not anonymous unless you use a specific (cli only wallet) setting. If China adopted XMR then yes, it would be true. I don't think they cloned Monero, but even if they did they would have to release the code with their modifications for the community to verify it, as most likely such "anonymity" can't possibly include "The State". Which renders the whole thing useless in the first place.

Venezuela has yet to release the modifications done to Dash for Petro. It is an obligation by Venezuelan law, but they are ignoring it (laws are overrated here anyway, what the leader says its obeyed, period). Take Dash, change its name, run a couple of nodes in a single datacenter and, oh, make sure it has infinite supply, and you get an idea of what that coin is. Oh and no wallets, only a single online wallet.

One would think the Chinese would do better, and i think they probably will, but not in that regard. Anonymity is not something a police state needs, or is willing to concede giving. Back in my country, anonymity is forbidden (in the constitution, no less), imagine that... You'd think the Chinese have more freedoms in their "communist" constitution?

Right to Anonymity i think is even a constitutional right in America, but unconstitutional here. What is it in China?

Speaking of controlling anonymity, you can already do that with Bitcoin. Disclose your wallet address if you want. Maybe politicians should, or NGOs, or anyone that would want their wallets audited for whatever reason.

These things just don't add up, it's not possible to have controllable anonymity, especially if it's a centralized system, all the cash and other payments they are talking about could all easily be traced.

While they do look like they are doing a good job with not giving the government complete control over the coins, I don't think a lot of people believe them when they say that..

I don't think controlling anonymity makes users have the total financial freedom and privacy that they need from the government. If they don't regard already cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum as good to use by their country then it's best to make it a decentralized blockchain network with full anonymity or better still just stick with their fiat currency.

Just look at their work, it's so obvious all that China wants is control of their population, and they even don't mind giving away some 'anonymity' to make this stuff easier, it's not even real anonymity since their entire infrastructure is all controlled by them.

What's the entire point of this? I doubt China would create an even, semi-anonymous coin for their citizens to use when they don't need it and I'm pretty sure their entire population knows is bullshit anyway?

This is some confusing shit...

The PBOC is poised to become the first major central bank to issue a digital version of its currency. According to new patents registered by the PBOC and official speeches, it could work something like this: Consumers and businesses would download a digital wallet on their mobile phone and load the digital cash from their account at a commercial bank - similar to going to an ATM. They then use that like cash to make and receive payments with anyone else who also has a digital wallet.

This will be a no for me dawg.

China wants to create a centralized coin. wtf? It is not what do we need! Therefore, I would advise the Chinese to use Bitcoin to protect themselves from the government

Controllable Anonymity? That is, the People`s Bank of China directly says that their cryptocurrency will be controlled by third parties? In my opinion this is a failure, no one will be tempted

"Controllable Anonymity" is an absurd and very vague term! China would certainly want total control over not only on its people but has ambitions for world dominance!

If ever they got to release their own digital currency, I would assume they will not make its code open-source and without 3rd party audit, they will most likely put some kind of mechanism for tracking everyone who uses it or even put trojans on its wallets!

Just think about the Huawei scandal - China has the capability to do high tech surveillance at its best. Imho.

I love this new term coming from the creative genius of China: controllable anonymity. That is just a spin of an idea and what it really means is that the government is about to be controlling how people in China are spending their digital money. We have to fully realized that China is all about control and now the government has seen one of the biggest opportunities to expand its influence and clout with its people inside and outside the country. 

There is really one thing I admire with China and its capacity to really smell a good opportunity even afar and its ability to make sure that the opportunity can be taken advantage of in relation to its overarching goal of global domination in many aspects and areas of people's lives. China know what it is doing and its vision can stretch for many generations to come.

Will this mean that soon Bitcoin can be recognized in China? Maybe yes, maybe no but for now things are pointing to the former as there seems to be a looming love affair between the leaders of this country with cryptocurrency. Now, if China will see that opening its market to Bitcoin is presenting another opportunity for control (not necessarily with Bitcoin itself) then maybe we can see Bitcoin to boom in China...soon.

If I understand correctly,  "Controllable Anonymity" means consumers will be able to control their involvement to some certain extent,  because knowing the Chinese government and their love for total control, this sounds like a less stringent terms, and I believe the Chinese citizens will find it more appealing than the total control approach, only if they are truthful about it, it sounds good.

the only way to remove the anonymity of cash is to remove cash from existence and that means no more usage of fiat which is not possible at all for many years. adding alternatives is not going to change that. people who are already using banks (which is nearly everyone) already don't have anonymity, it won't matter if they are using traditional banking or banking with a cryptocurrency!

there is no "cryptocurrency mining ban" in China!

Let me explain "Controllable Anonymity" to you, in the view of the Chinese government. The Blockchain technology used by them, will allow the Banks and the government to have access to all citizens financial information, but the citizens will not have access to each others data.

It is quite obvious, because you will register with the Banks to have access to this Blockchain technology and they will share that information with the government, but the normal citizen on the street, will not know how much money the people around them has. It is just a Crypto version of the traditional Banking ledger system.  ::)

If that is the case, it is mainly controlling people in some aspects of their financial lifestyle. Though, the fact that cryptocurrency could provide efficient transactions, each transaction will be monitored, in such a case that the Chinese Government can view each transaction. With regard to the 'Controllable Anonymity', I don't believe that they do really want their people to become anonymous since, in the first place, each individual should issue their identity to banks to get a wallet address of their own.

Controllable Anonymity??

Lol! It's an oxymoron! A fairytale!

I just read Kakmakr's explanation! Chinese government is really funny! If that is what meant by controllable anonymity, what is the difference of it compared to traditional banking system? Just a digital wallet connected to a database to make things more clear to the government?

It would definitely be beneficial if China decides to uplift the ban on mining! That will be a real progress of cryptocurrency then. Otherwise rest all are just government thingy! More transparent vigilance!

Well, I like the fact that Chinese consumers are aware & worried about their anonymity (which is probably guaranteed by their law). This is what others should be more focused on rathering waving off this very valuable right without question.
It is not a crime to demand for this natural right.. . Right to privacy is absolutely important. Whoever spies on you lawlessly is seriously violating this right.
Chinese should make sure this is a real/full anonymity though.
Unmasking people's identities should be done under the law. People should be able to sue those who do this outside the law otherwise true Blockchain will remain attractive to those who are aware of the abuses.

I personally think that in reality digital currency is far from anonymous because every transaction is carried out with a decentralized network that is recorded in the public Blockchain system, and maybe they also ask everyone who wants to make their crypto wallet to send each user's personal information, so that anonymity ends for crypto currency payments or other transactions.
perhaps this is meant by those whose anonymity can be controlled.

Only in China and maybe also in Russia someone could come up with the term "controllable anonymity." After all, this in itself is pointless and illogical. Or they want to control who can be anonymous and who can not? Maybe they'll issue licenses for anonymity, just like gun ownership..   ::)
The fight of governments against decentralization will never end.  >:(

I would not like China to control the sphere of cryptocurrencies, but they are going to invest huge amounts in it, so they will be able to control the market in the future...

The thing that comes to mind is that they will easily control the economy with DCEP, but they will indirectly provide an alternative effect for people to understand more deeply including anonymity transaction options outside the government-provided platform. But China is right because if it isn't like this, they will really lose full control.

most people still want transparency for legal protection and this will still be dominant.

It's not possible in their current situation. The sole act of going to the bank to deposit funds has some anonimity disputes in itself. Not to mention that China's principles and ideology is complete control, such as AI face recognition existing in their cities. I cannot think of any ways that anonimity could be provided other than central banks not disclosing their clients information.

I am not sure what the term controllable anonymity means, there is nothing like controllable breach of privacy and hence this is stupidity as they wanted to monitor every transaction and they might even force all the users (Chinese people) to use their shitty coins.

It is highly unlikely as the government controls the internet and they will determine what the users will browse and use.

I think the message of the People’s Bank of China is something like this: "Bitcoin is still bad, as we always said, but blockchain technology is good, and we are going to adopt it with launching our own digital currency". What happens next, in my opinion, is the following. The vast majority of Chinese people will be using the currency issued by PBOC, and around 10% (still over 100 million people) will be using BTC, ETH, and maybe some other cryptos, along with the national crypto currency, of course.

As for the "controllable anonymity", we should ask ourselves, "controllable by whom?" As there are no perfect human beings, it's pretty dangerous to grant some of them with the ability to control, exclusively and completely, on a national level, such important thing as money.

The Chinese govt is notorious for spying and collecting info on their people. So "controlled anonymity" means the people you are interacting with won't know who you are, but the state will. That's the control thing.

Also - I am baffled by people claiming that China pushing a state-backed coin - from a state that is a dictatorship - will be helpful to bitcoin or the real cryptocurrencies out there.

Controllable only to a certain extent, which of course they can still see on their end and would just be a facade for people to trust them. Heck, the Great Firewall up to now isn't even removed in today's society for the Chinese people, which only points us to a conclusion that these guys aren't so serious at all when it comes to introducing/giving anonymity back to people. For sure, they will have a way to know who spends how much on a clearer way knowing that they issued these things digitally, and the banks would have have the records for every name on the ledger.

I have mixed feelings about this: on one end I'm quite satisfied that one country is recognizing the power and flexibility of the blockchain and cryptocurrencies but on the other, I feel bad for the (possible) extended spying that will happen for the people of China.

I would not want to buy into that idea of having their coin s a controllable anonymity because something that is going to be controlled is going to fully be a centralized coin, so no matter the promise they might give in future of giving anonymity, I don’t think that would be true. It is just going to be a gimmick to lure lots of people into the use of the coin and then they bring their true color out.

I think that their main goal I to make bitcoin irrelevant which they will not be able to do because the government of china can never create a coin that cannot be controlled by them or give their citizens full right over their money without government having any single saying in it, so better we don't listen to them on that aspect of even having anonymity at all.

I'm sure their "controllable anonymity" means that the government will have full access to all records and identities, while it will be restricted for all other parties. This just hints that their network will be very centralized, because in public blockchains there's either full transparency (i.e. Bitcoin) or full anonymity (i.e. Monero). No one in their right mind should believe that China will respect anyone's privacy and other rights.

Controllable anonymity? Nah,,, do not fear, China and Russia learn from the people like USA. At least they are less hypocritical than in the West, where they promise you privacy but they steal everything about you so they can manipulate you.

Remember,,, people are the same everywhere. So we should not trust people or governments. Bitcoin is already the answer to all these issues. Let us use it, and keep using it. That is our answer!

I bet that when they talk about controlled anonymity they mean pseudo-anonymity and since banking institutions know everything about their clients they will only be anonymous to the public, but for the government, it will be enough to ask for the personal data associated with an address to destroy the "anonymity".

Something that I consider to be extremely dangerous especially when you want to make political life that is contrary to their political beliefs.

what ? controllable anonimity ? hmmm it sounds cool to me . that means they can control/adjust thier crypto coins anonimity to make it transparent or untransparent depending on thier mood ?

 but it would be better if the consumer are the one's that can do that because this give's and option to share your  transaction as a proof once you pay something like your  loans , etc  .. or you can hide anything under your wallet if you dont wanted to be traced when you pay or buy something shady  .

Well lets be honest anything that is made and controlled by the government, is used to spy on you and control your life, and from all the places in the world china is the known government to do so, they are well know for localizing everything, and i don't think that this is any different, the so called controlled anonymity is just a fancy way to say spying on your transactions, and i don't think that anyone who is using bitcoin or any cryptocurrency that is true to its cause can be fouled by such thing.

I don't think should come as a surprise. The technology within China for surveillance is quite astounding. One wouldn't even think of J-walking through traffic last ones wants to be given a guaranteed citation thanks to the retinal cameras that zoom in track your face recognition throughout the city.
  In some schools all students must wear a BCU devices that measures their brainwaves to see who's spacing off at any given moment in school. It's all been a good success as well. Parents encourage it as it helps push the students to the limit, due to the added preasure.

I think that 'controllable anonymity' is pretty much an oxymoron (oh, right, now I see that avikz has already mentioned it). If it's anonymity, it cannot be in the hands of those from whom people are trying to hide their activities. Surely, they can claim that this 'control' will only be used to prevent severe illegal activities, but we all understand it can be used to track people for all sorts of reasons, both personal and governmental. So if I were in China, I would not buy this 'anonymity' talk and would not use this coin for any operations which I don't want to be known.

I think they are just sugar coating the fact they still want to have some control over people's money with their so-called "Controlled anonimity". Anonymity is being totally anonymous to any one, so the essence of it will be gone since the authority could still have access with it.

           On the other hand, China is known as a country with high and strong concerns about security within their reach especially in terms of financial aspect. so their proposed stable coin project that was said to have the balance of privacy by not seeking full control over user full details and fulfilling authorities is not getting too far from their image amd is mot surprising, but I don't think what they are saying about not having full control ober users details will convince their citizens enough.

I think that this new word should be added to the cryptocurrency dictionary which china really need to explain what they mean by that because I dint see how they will be able to provide a controllable anonymity.
 
It will be absolutely that china of all country would give a coin that has anonymity when we know how china likes to take control of everything that has to do with their and I think that they only trying to coin out that word to use so that they can attract people to their coin, en if they make a cryptocurrency with the promises of giving anonymity, I doubt if they will still be able to abide by it fully and it might even be a bait for corrupt leader in their country because I know that stance of china again corruption when it comes to their government.

Controllable anonymity = fake anonymity. It's like democracy in North Korea where people can vote but the only name on the list is Kim Dzong Un. So you can vote for Kim or not but if you don't vote they'll say you're not fulfilling your responsibilities as citizen and that means labour camp :D

So Cina will have a fake cryptocurrency that will allow people to think they have a real crypto but they will still have a bank account that will look like a crypto wallet and send transactions through a blockchain.

But if they will allow that cryptocurrency to be traded with those legit ones such as bitcoin, ethereum, or xrp, then we can say, people will believe and trust that platform. But the real issue here is the false anonymity that the government will try to provide to their people. Why would they ask for identity in exchange for wallet information? We all know these wallets contain addresses that are hard to trace, and right from the start if you provided your identity, you already doomed. How come that could be called 'Controlled Anonymity'?

hehe，you dont understand chinese！！！

I highly doubt that the Bank of China will introduce its own crypto coin. I think they are interested in introducing blockchain technology into their system rather than creating their own digital currency. China already has a digital payment system which looks to be working perfectly with less issues. Introducing blockchain technology to their already existing digital payment system will further address the challenges seen in the system. China is rather interested in blockchain technology rather than developing their own digital coin. I think you do further research and analysis before making some assumptions.

I personally don't see why the People’s Bank of China shouldn't issue their own crypto coin. Are you familiar with some official statements in that regard?

As far as I know, they are against decentralized crypto currencies because, in their view, such currencies are too unpredictable and the use of them may lead to chaos. So, they are going to launch centralized, yuan-pegged, stable digital currency of their own. Imo it has more to do with ideology than with economy. Authoritarian regimes are always afraid of freedom, and people who support them think that only strong central power can save us from chaos.

In the years that I've been in this crypto, I would say that do not 'trust' any news coming from China. Just look at what the whole Binance fiasco, fake news, FUD did to the market in the last two days or so.

Controllable + Anonymity does go in one sentence. They just confusing the Chinese market here, but we all know that their government is against any form of yielding to their population and this is just one example.