China has been somewhat hostile to crypto. Their actions are clearly an attempt to control the markets to their benefit and have thrown up numerous roadblocks to innovation. Which makes this pronouncement by Chinese Central Bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, all the more surprising.
Digital currency is inevitable, likely to overtake fiat
This is a big deal. If China is publicly acknowledging the impact of digital money, you have to wonder what they are doing behind close doors. They aren't sitting around waiting for it become more clear. They want to be in the drivers seat pushing it in the directions they prefer.
On a similar front, none other than the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagard, had these choice word.
“Just as a few technologies that emerged from the dot-com era have transformed our lives, the crypto assets that survive could have a significant impact on how we save, invest and pay our bills,”
See her blog post here: https://blogs.imf.org/2018/04/16/an-even-handed-approach-to-crypto-assets/
Software is eating the world? Well, yeah. But crypto is a hungry beast and it is consuming everything in its path.