cryptoknowmics.com
|
|
A group of senators in the US issued a letter to the country’s Olympic & Paralympic Committee, urging it to forbid American athletes from receiving and using China’s central bank digital currency(CBDC) at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The Chinese digital yuan, or e-CNY, is on track to becoming the world’s first fully functional digital currency, having reached $5.3 billion in transaction value recently.
US Senators Oppose Digital Yuan Use During Winter Olympics
On Monday, Republican senators Marsha Blackburn, Cynthia Lummis, and Roger Wicker wrote a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee chair, Sussane Lyons, opposing the use of digital yuan by American athletes during the upcoming Winter Olympics. The lawmakers argued that the CBDC is “entirely” controlled by the communist party and can be used to track and trace the athletes.
“We cannot allow America’s athletes to be used as a trojan horse to increase the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to spy on the United States,” senator Lummis told a media outlet.
China’s digital currency project has invited speculations from all corners that imply the asset is an extension of the country’s surveillance program. However, a whitepaper released by the Chinese government claims that the currency will support ”managed anonymity” to safeguard user information and protect privacy.
Digital Yuan Faces an Uphill Battle Against the US
According to Sino Global Capital, China aims to use the digital yuan to maintain its monetary sovereignty and financial stability. The country has also assured that e-CNY is not a threat to the dollar’s international predominance because it simply replaces the physical money circulation. But that hasn’t stopped the US from doubting China’s intentions and the purpose of its CBDC.
The mistrust expressed by the three senators is also shared by many others in the US. In this case, China’s CBDC has been called a surveillance operation at an “unprecedented scale.”
Senator Lummis and her colleagues have warned the country’s athletes that the e-CNY could be used to “surveil Chinese citizens and those visiting China…with the hopes that they will maintain digital yuan wallets on their smartphones and continue to use it upon return.”
The latest incident is a sign of intensifying competition in the digital currency space, although the US is still figuring out a plan of action for its own state-mandated digital asset. Nevertheless, the call for boycotting digital yuan so close to the upcoming Tokyo Olympics is indicative of America’s growing interest in CBDCs.