China’s central bank to issue crypto, not not clear when; Nigerian official paid a ransom in BTC

China’s central bank has refuted recent statements that it is to launch its national digital currency in November.

In late August many news sources speculated that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) would launch cryptocurrency in November and said that leading banks the ICBC, the Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China, as well as Alibaba, Tencent and UnionPay, would act as outlets for the digital currency.

However, the representative of the PBoC made a statement to Chinese Global Daily news agency on Saturday that both the date as well as the list of the project participants were “inaccurate”.

While the bank’s official did not give any specifics as to the PBoC plans with regard to digital yuan, in the interviews in July its former governor Zhou Xiaochuan said that creation of China’s digital currency was “inevitable”, especially in the light of the possible thread to the national currency posed by Facebook’s Libra. He said that the government “make good preparations and make the Chinese yuan a stronger currency” through the digital currency.

Global Times reported that the PBoC’s official said it would issue progress updates in timely manner and asked the public to refer to the official statements for the correct information.

The bank also compared its planned digital currency and other cryptocurrencies, referring to its project as a centralized “legal digital currency” which will be financially backed by the government.

It is not planned that the new currency would replace the official yuan, the new technology will be used in the retail sector and for payments like cash.

Nigerian government official paid $15K ransom in Bitcoin

In a publication for Daily Trust, Nigerian government official Dr. Umar Ardo said the criminals made him pay a $15,000 ransom in bitcoin to release his kidnapped daughter.

Last week, Dr. Ardo’s daughter Amado was kidnapped at a gunpoint around a shopping center. What strikes about this incident is that it is for the first time in history that criminals demand payment in cryptocurrency.

Why in bitcoin? Investigators believe the criminals requested the ransom to be paid in bitcoin to remain anonymous and escape penalty, since blockchain transactions are completely anonymous.

Sadly, incidents like these cast a shadow at the refutation of cryptocurrencies. Despite the indisputable advantages of blockchain technology, many leaders have voiced concern regarding anonymity connected with that.