On October 26, China's National People's Congress adopted a new cryptography law 【密码法】 (
English
), which will take effect on January 1, 2020.
NPC Observer
provides the
Chinese text
of the cryptography law, as well as other relevant legislative history, texts and records for those who are interested. You can find English analysis of the law at
in
The Diplomat
and by
USCBC
(paywall).
Xi Jinping just held a
Politburo Study Session
about this topic, specifically the development of blockchain technologies (区块链技术).
Although cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are still banned in China, this latest move belies the Party's interest in creating its own blockchain-based cryptocurrency (加密货币), a.k.a the Digital Currency Electronic Payment System (DCEP), expected to be backed by the People's Bank of China and paired with mobile payment apps like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
This law seeks to not only establish a framework for digital finance in China, but also to open the doors to more research and innovation in blockchain technology.
