THE central bank plans to issue China’s own crytocurrency as early as Nov. 11, the country’s busiest shopping day for online sales, U.S. financial magazine Forbes said yesterday, quoting two sources familiar with the matter.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has been exploring the possibility of launching its own digital currency since 2014 to cut the costs of circulating traditional paper money and boost policymakers’ control of money supply.

Some analysts say China appears to have accelerated the push to digital money after U.S. social media giant Facebook announced plans in June to launch digital coin Libra — the most high-profile proposed digital currency so far — within a year, a move that has shocked global policymakers and raised regulatory concerns.

Paul Schulte, who worked as global head of financial strategy for China Construction Bank until 2012, was reported as saying the banks include China’s biggest lender the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, and the Agricultural Bank of China.

Earlier this month, Mu Changchun, deputy director of PBOC’s payments department, told a forum the PBOC is “almost ready” to launch China’s own sovereign digital currency.

The report added that the PBOC hopes its cryptocurrency will eventually be made available to spenders in the United States and elsewhere through relationships with correspondent banks in the West.

(SD-Agencies)