5 ms·

Imho, it does not need to float to get the outcome that China wants. There is a summary of the ideas here: https://www.mauldineconomics.com/frontlinethoughts/

• seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  The article doesn’t say how the currency will be valued, which makes its use outside of China problematic. The PBOC will have to set a price that has to mean something, and will mean less if exchange is restricted like the RMB. That Laos bar will have to know how much to charge for a beer in Kip, USD, bhat, and this new digital yuan…an exchange value has to be set.
  • bobthepanda 5y ago
    I agree with what you're saying but I don't think float is the right word here. You can, with great difficulty, maintain a peg to something; the US was pegged for decades, the Euro was preceded by a fairly broad system of pegs, etc. Though most currency crises start by trying to defend an indefensible peg. Really the issue is restrictions on capital inflows and outflows. That bartender can say whatever things are worth in digital CNY at any given time but if they become unredeemable at any time they become totally useless. Any bank that starts restricting withdrawals is at risk of a bank run, and digital CNY would be no different. PBOC has a history of tightening the screws on capital flows, there's not really a reason to start trusting it with digital CNY.