Interview with Chen Weigang, Former Vice President of the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission: Digital currency trading must be cracked down

Text: Ratchet

Source: A blockchain

After the blockchain technology was mentioned at the national strategic level, practitioners were greatly encouraged and the industry development was significantly accelerated.

At the same time, there is also a deliberate distortion of the concept of the fund disk, in the name of "we are encouraged by the state", to slash leeks online and offline.

"The scammers did not use the blockchain technology at all, but they used the guise of the blockchain, speculation, and air currency. Most people do n’t understand the blockchain technology, they do n’t have the ability to identify, so they will be fooled "In a recent interview with a blockchain, Chen Weigang, the former vice president of the Party School of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and a supervisor at the board of directors of the state-owned key financial institution, said.

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Chen Weigang joined the China Banking Regulatory Commission in 2006. He has successively held the positions of Deputy Director of the Training Center of the Banking Regulatory Commission, Vice President of the Party School, and Supervisor of the Board of Supervisors of Key State-owned Financial Institutions. In recent years, he has been concerned about financial supervision in the field of digital currency and blockchain, and has published books such as "Blockchain Policy Orientation and Industrial Application".

In an interview with a blockchain, Chen Weigang said that at present, one of the difficulties in regulating MLM coins and funds is that the division of labor is not clear and the coverage of supervision is relatively small.

He said that the Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the Securities and Futures Commission, the public security organs, the network and the cultural authorities should unite to resolutely crack down on speculation in coins, ICOs and various criminal activities under the guise of blockchain.

In addition, Chen Weigang also talked about the high-profile digital currency of the central bank. He said that the link between DCEP and RMB is very important to China's national strategy. "We must achieve a leading position in the world, at least in terms of technology, ahead of developed countries such as the United States. Only in this way can the RMB take the initiative in the future international economic development."

The following is a dialogue between Chen Weigang and a blockchain.

01 Speculation and ICO must be resolutely banned

A blockchain : After the country strongly encouraged the development of the blockchain, some MLM disks and fund disks began to advertise and harvest everywhere under the banner of "We are a blockchain encouraged by the country." Victims are not in the minority. What are the reasons for this phenomenon?

Chen Weigang: The first thing to point out is that fraud under the guise of blockchain is itself a criminal activity. It has nothing to do with blockchain and has nothing to do with finance. It should be resolutely cracked down.

There are two forms of fraud with the blockchain:

The first is to blind people with blockchain technology. Liars did not use blockchain technology in the right place, but instead used it as a tool for fraud. Maybe the technology is real, but this technology is a technology used to deceive the people's funds, which is a kind of crooked art.

Second, scammers do not use the blockchain at all, they do not understand the blockchain, they just use the guise of the blockchain to speculate on concepts and speculate on air coins. Most people actually don't understand blockchain technology and have no ability to identify, so they will be deceived.

The methods of these scammers can be summarized as the five words "false deception and deception": False is to pretend a beautiful vision; False is to pretend a beautiful story; Mongo is to promise a blindfolded person; To deceive is to do a deceiving and beautifying propaganda; hemp is to send a wonderful illusion of paralysis. They used these tricks to deceive ordinary people.

The more hidden and ingenious the scammers use, the more ordinary people will be harmed. Therefore, people should know more about the harm of the so-called blockchain, speculation, and ICO scams. If you know more, everyone will naturally resist it and stay away from it. Of course, ordinary people are not omnipotent. They can't be required to understand everything. The government's crackdown and supervision efforts are the right way.

On January 15, 2020, Chen Weigang attended a blockchain and digital finance summit forum hosted by this blockchain

A blockchain: At present, the fund circle and MLM coins in the currency circle are still banned repeatedly. What are the main challenges in terms of regulation? How should they be combated?

Chen Weigang: At present, the division of labor in this area is not clear, and the coverage of supervision is relatively small.

For example, financial regulatory agencies such as the Banking Insurance Regulatory Commission and the Securities Regulatory Commission can only supervise licensed financial institutions such as banks, insurance, and securities companies. Many of the organizers of blockchain scams are not regular licensed financial institutions, but some non-licensed financial institutions, non-financial institutions, illegal organizations, and even some rogue groups.

When these organizations are cheating, they can do online and offline together. They can work together on the ground and underground. They can carry out simultaneous domestic and foreign transactions. They can use various illegal channels for transactions and payments. Funds can be transferred without going through formal financial institutions. Regarding such scams, financial supervisors cannot control them, and the state has not given them the power to supervise them. They can only rely on public security agencies to combat them.

It's like P2P a few years ago. P2P is neither a bank, nor securities, nor is it insurance. Therefore, the CBRC, CSRC, and CIRC cannot implement supervision. Before P2P companies constitute criminal offences, public security organs cannot catch them. This creates a vacuum of regulation.

In addition, many scammers often use the Internet, media and other channels for publicity and promotion. Network administrations such as the Internet Information Office, as well as those in the media, culture, and propaganda fields should also unite to supervise this type of behavior.

In December 2019, the Central Bank, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, the Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly issued a "Notice on Further Regulating Financial Marketing Propaganda Behaviors", which regulates financial marketing propaganda behaviors.

After this document is issued, as long as someone engages in fraudulent acts or false propaganda, whether it is a financial institution or a non-financial institution, the supervisory authority can crack down on such behavior as long as it can find the subject of the propaganda or commission the propaganda. I believe this will become more and more standardized in the future.

A blockchain: Recently, a number of digital currency exchanges have begun to implement "compliance" layouts, such as obtaining licenses from governments of certain countries or mainstream financial markets. How do you look at their behavior?

Chen Weigang: Why do these companies register overseas? Because domestic policy does not allow it, it is illegal. What is legal abroad is not necessarily legal domestically, such as gambling. Although there are some underground casinos in the country that are doing gambling business, the country will definitely crack down on them.

The same is true for speculation. I always believe that speculation and ICOs are not the direction of financial development and must be resolutely banned.

Regarding digital currency transactions, I think that the supervision of various national departments will definitely become more and more stringent, and there will be no market for transactions. For example, banks and formal payment institutions will be banned from providing channels for digital currency transactions. Some private transactions in the private sector may continue, but they will certainly not prevail.

Some people may ask, now that the digital economy era has come, digital assets can be traded publicly, why can't digital currencies be traded? A concept must be corrected here. Digital assets are not digital currencies, and digital asset transactions can be performed in currency.

A Blockchain: Since ICO is not the direction of financial development, what are its harmful aspects?

Chen Weigang: The concept of ICO comes from IPO. The purpose of the IPO is to serve the real economy and use the raised funds for physical production. In the stock market, the important role of the supervisory department is to combat speculation and allow the stock market to develop in a healthy way, without leaving the real economy and serving the real economy.

ICO is the product of the development of the network virtual economy. It added some so-called "financial innovations" on the basis of the IPO. However, the main body of the ICO is completely detached from the real economy and cannot serve the real economy, so the financial supervision department must resolutely crack down on the ICO.

Every time the central government holds an economic work conference, it will emphasize that finance must return to its essence and serve the real economy. I often compare financial innovation to a kite, and financial supervision is the kite line. As long as the wind comes, the kite can fly very high; Line; but the day the kite broke free was when it fell.

02Blockchain makes banks and insurance more honest

A Blockchain: Media reports indicate that provinces and cities such as Hangzhou, Guiyang, Beijing and Hainan have all launched or are about to launch a blockchain regulatory sandbox. What opportunities will these sandboxes bring to the development of the blockchain industry?

Chen Weigang: Blockchain is a network technology. The so-called "blockchain supervision", I think it has two meanings:

First, regulators have increased supervision of financial products developed using blockchain technology. If blockchain practitioners use blockchain technology to develop reasonable, legal, and compliant financial products, regulators should support and formulate corresponding regulatory standards to make them work well.

But if someone uses the guise of blockchain finance, or uses blockchain technology to deceive in the financial industry, supervision should be resolutely cracked down.

The second is the use of blockchain technology in regulatory means.

What is a regulatory sandbox? Put the sand in the box and let the sand roll in the box, but the sand will not rise outside. Its core is to allow blockchain financial innovation and blockchain supervision technology innovation to be tested in a smaller scope, first trial, and then promotion. Looking at it this way, it may not be just the four regions mentioned above, other regions may also be doing related layouts, but it has not been reported by the media.

A Blockchain: Now, there are many regulatory technology practitioners exploring the application of blockchain technology to regulatory scenarios. What can blockchain do to help regulate technology?

Chen Weigang: Fintech is advancing with the times, and supervision must also be advancing with the times. Can financial supervision use blockchain technology? I think so.

First of all, the current supervision of the financial industry mainly relies on "checking accounts". Problems are discovered first, and then reminded, warned, and punished. In essence, it is to check for leaks and make up vacancies. This type of supervision is lagging.

With blockchain technology, financial institutions and regulators can be on the same platform. While financial institutions do business, regulators can conduct automatic, real-time review. In layman's terms, "people are doing, heaven is watching." Practitioners will be more awed by supervision.

 

Second, the blockchain has the characteristics of distributed storage, and the data on the chain cannot be tampered with. In the past, financial institutions may tamper with data in order to evade supervision, and blockchain supervision platforms can avoid this problem.

Finally, the blockchain also has a major function-smart contracts. Smart contracts can implement automated supervision and investigation, and fines are automatically allocated to accounts, avoiding bargaining space.

In summary, the future of blockchain technology is promising in the field of financial supervision. But now, the application of blockchain in the regulatory field is still in its early days, and there is still a long way to go.

A blockchain: You mentioned that banks and insurance are intermediaries themselves, and deintermediation means revolutionizing their own lives. So, when the blockchain is completely in the banking and insurance industry, what kind of future banking and insurance industry will be?

Chen Weigang: Blockchain is a very good technology that can make the banking and insurance industries more honest.

Banks and insurance companies are recognized as reliable and trustworthy institutions in the society, and are high-credit entities endorsed by the state. However, in recent years, the phenomenon of bad currency expelling good coins has appeared in the industry. Some non-licensed financial institutions, or licensed non-financial institutions, are engaged in illegal financial business. They have deceived and corrupted ordinary people through false publicity. The credit of the formal banks and insurance industry has been damaged.

Especially in the insurance industry, as soon as many people hear about insurance, they associate it with words such as deception, pitting, etc. This is actually a kind of prejudice, but there are indeed insurance practitioners who use some false propaganda or even deception. Every effort was made to compose complicated and difficult-to-understand clauses in order to reduce compensation and affect the reputation of the industry.

The blockchain can rely on smart contract technology to solve this problem and ensure fairness. This is absolutely beneficial to the people. For the banking and insurance industries, the use of blockchain is also beneficial, because banks and insurance companies have improved their integrity and will also be favored by more people.

In the future, blockchain technology enters the advanced stage, achieving a high degree of trust, being transparent to the common people, and the functions of banks and insurance institutions will change accordingly.

In the next one or two decades, blockchain technology will be more and more favored by banks and insurance institutions, and more and more trusted by ordinary people, without causing fatal impact on banks and insurance institutions.

In addition, the emergence of new technologies such as blockchain will make online banking and online insurance more and more common. The cross-regional operation of the banking and insurance industries will become increasingly common. In this process, competition in the banking and insurance industries will become increasingly fierce. In the future, some large banks, high-tech banks, and insurance companies can achieve cross-regional and even multinational operations, while small banks, Insurance companies may be eliminated.

03 DCEP is very important for China

A Blockchain: Compared with Facebook-led Libra, what is the difference between the Central Bank's fiat digital currency (DCEP)?

Chen Weigang : DCEP did not actually appear in the past two years. As early as 2015, the central bank proposed this concept. Why did DCEP suddenly catch fire in the past two years? There are two main reasons.

First, after the maturity of the blockchain technology, digital currencies such as Bitcoin have become popular. If digital currencies will make great progress in the future, China cannot do without. It can be said that digital currencies such as Bitcoin have brought a sense of urgency to the central bank.

Second, Facebook's release of Libra's white paper also exacerbated the urgency of the central bank. After World War II, the US dollar has dominated the global financial market. If the US dollar is linked to the new digital currency, then the US dollar will continue to dominate the digital currency era.

Libra white paper

Therefore, China should study DCEP as soon as possible, first realize RMB-based digital currency settlement in the Greater China region, and then continue to promote it in hundreds of countries along the Belt and Road and trade with China.

As for Libra, it is not a sovereign currency. Although Facebook has more than 2 billion users, the total amount is large, but the dollar is still afraid to link with Libra, because Libra's dominant player is a business. The main leader of DCEP is the central bank, which can be directly linked to the RMB once it is launched. The link between DCEP and RMB is very important to our national strategy.

Therefore, I think DCEP's strategy may not be just the central bank's doing, and the central leadership comrades may also be thinking about it. We must run ahead of the United States, at least technically. In this way, the renminbi can take the initiative internationally in the future.

A Blockchain: At present, what is the biggest challenge in launching China's own legal digital currency?

Chen Weigang: The biggest challenge now may still be on the technical level.

The goal of DCEP is to achieve M0 replacement, so it must realize completely offline payments like the physical cash, that is, the parties to the transaction can still pay even if they do not have an Internet connection. This is like a physical wallet. After payment, A loses 100 yuan and B loses 100 yuan.

The transfers on Alipay and WeChat only realize the transfer of money in name, and the real settlement must be completed through the bank. If an extreme situation occurs, such as a bank failure, the network is down, and the transfer cannot be achieved.

DCEP also faces many problems. For example, what is the relationship between DC0 and DCEP and cash and bank demand deposits? After the emergence of DCEP, what is the relationship with the existing online banking? Does online banking need to exist? These issues, I think the developers of DCEP have yet to clarify.

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