News Analysis The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been pushing its digital currency project in recent years. The CCP’s central bank has been conducting research on digital currencies since 2014. In August 2019, a report by the CCP’s mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency said that the Central Bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute, established in 2017, had so far “applied for 74 patents involving digital currency technology.” Another Xinhua report in October 2019 revealed how much importance the CCP attached to digital currency and blockchain technology. According to the report, Xi Jinping, the CCP’s leader, suggested during the 18th collective study session of the Politburo that blockchain technology needs to “play a bigger role in building China into a cyber power, developing the digital economy, and helping economic and social development.” Following that, in 2020, the CCP’s Ministry of Commerce issued a document requiring 21 provinces and municipalities to implement a “General Pilot …