It is evident there are still a fair few countries which want to create their own cryptocurrency at some point. In the case of China, such a currency has been hinted at for quite some time now, and it seems the rumor mill is still churning at full strength. According to Reuters, the Petro-Yuan will come to market fairly soon, even though it has nothing to do with Venezuela’s recently-launched cryptocurrency.
The Chinese Petro-Yuan
It is quite interesting that China seemingly plans to go ahead with creating a digital currency. Although this new form of money has still not been officially confirmed, Reuters indicates that may soon change. According to sources, Chinese officials are planning to pay for oil imports using a newly created Petro-Yuan, albeit one that has absolutely nothing to do with Venezuela’s Petro cryptocurrency. A trial for paying for oil imports with the “new” yuan will begin as early as Q3 of this year.
For now, it seems this venture is mainly designed to facilitate the importing of oil from Russia and Angola. That in itself is quite interesting, as it further hints at close collaboration between China and Russia. Both countries have already been working on a Swift payment competitor known as CIPS, and it seems this whole concept will be taken one step further in the very near future.
The bigger question is whether or not the “Petro-Yuan” will be the digital currency Chinese officials have hinted at for quite some time now. Since there is no official indication as to whether or not that plan will come to fruition, most of this is based on speculation. It is no secret China wants a digital currency to compete with Bitcoin at some point, but creating a Petro-Yuan may not necessarily fit the bill.
Regardless of how this plan unfolds, China is clearly sending a strong message to the United States. As of right now, the U.S. dollar is the go-to currency for oil trading all over the world, even for countries that don’t use the dollar as their main currency. For China, this is another step toward distancing itself from the US dollar, a plan Russian officials can certainly get behind right now. Between the new Petro-Yuan and the ongoing rumors about China creating its own Bitcoin competitor, there are a lot of exciting developments to look forward to, by the look of things.
