Central Bank to Beef Up Digital Yuan Rules to Address Privacy Issues

China plans to tighten legislation around the digital yuan to protect user privacy and combat illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing, said Mu Changchun, the head of the central bank’s digital currency research institute.

There have been “misunderstandings” that using the digital currency infringes on people’s privacy and turns everyone into “a little ant with GPS installed,” Mu said on Sunday in a speech at the 5th Digital China Summit, a government-backed conference in Fuzhou, Fujian province. There is a “controlled anonymity” applied to the currency, which means authorities only access users’ personal information when they suspect illegal transactions have taken place, he said.