Cryptocurrency News: China Says New Digital Currency Will Protect PRC's 'Digital Sovereignty,' Resemble Facebook's Libra

A senior Chinese banking official told state-run media Friday that China is still planning to launch its own cryptocurrency and that it will be similar to Facebook's Libra.

Mu Changchun, the deputy director of the People's Bank of China's payments department, said the digital currency is to protect China's "digital sovereignty and legal currency status. We need to plan ahead for a rainy day."

China's cryptocurrency would be pegged to its physical currency, the Chinese yuan. It's unlikely to use blockchain technology, which is implemented by other cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin.

The proposed Chinese cryptocurrency will also likely be under surveillance by the Chinese government and be used to bypass U.S. trade sanctions. It would be available on popular Chinese digital platforms, such as Wechat and Alipay.

Last month, Changchun said that China's cryptocurrency is "almost ready" for release.

In June, Facebook announced its unique cryptocurrency, Libra, which could be used on smartphones and is aimed at providing financial services to those 1.7 billion people who don't have access to a traditional bank account. Libra will be pegged to a variety of traditional currencies, such as the U.S. dollar and the Euro.

U.S. authorities have been concerned that the cryptocurrency could assist in money laundering and terrorist financing operations.

Libra will use a digital wallet called Calibra that can be used to store the cryptocurrency.

Libra is also under fire due to Facebook's previous problems concerning data privacy, as members of Congress are worried that Facebook should not be trusted with digital currency.

Last year, political data firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked for Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, was found to have used Facebook to gather personal data on millions of Americans without their consent. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July slapped a $5 billion fine on Facebook due to the data privacy issue, the largest fine in FTC history.