Why the Digital Yuan Could One Day Be Seen as a Blunder

Alex Gladstein, chief strategy officer of the Human Rights Foundation, explains why he believes China’s new pro-blockchain stance could turn out to be a blunder for the country and why this could lead to a red pill/blue pill moment that gets Chinese citizens interested in Bitcoin. He also talks about how the country could use a digital yuan as financial leverage in other countries, and why he’s skeptical of the Chinese government’s claims that anonymous transactions will be possible in the currency, called DCEP. We also talk about how wary citizens around the world should be as more societies go cashless, how corporations are starting to self-censor due to China’s financial leverage and what the connection is between financial freedom and free speech.

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Episode links: 

Alex Gladstein: https://twitter.com/gladstein

China’s push to support cryptography: https://www.coindesk.com/chinas-congress-passes-cryptography-law-effective-jan-1-2020

Articles saying DCEP can be used like cash, does not require bank account: https://www.coindesk.com/new-head-of-chinas-digital-currency-says-it-beats-facebook-libra-on-tech-features

To see the links in this week’s news recap, go to https://unchainedpodcast.com/only-we-chinese-pump-with-real-money/