China is Hiring Blockchain Experts to Develop its Own Digital Currency

By Samburaj Das for CryptocoinsNews

he People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, is in the process of recruiting blockchain experts as it ramps up its longstanding effort to develop and issue its own digital currency.

First reported by local publication Shanghai Daily, the central bank issued the recruiting call, offering six positions for the development and design of both software and hardware frameworks for a digital currency.

Applicants with experience in blockchain technology development, big data, cryptography and systems design are particularly desirable and will be preferred. Applicants must also hold a master’s or a doctoral degree in cryptography, information security and computer science, according to the recruitment notice.

The hiring drive comes soon after the bank’s vice-governor, Fan Yifei, penned a recent Bloomberg column wherein the official opined that the best way for governments to make the most of the innovation of digital currencies is by creating their own, which will stay under their control. Yifei sees reduced operating costs, increased efficiency and a broad range of new applications as the many outcomes of moving from a paper-based currency to its digital form.

China’s endeavor to develop its own digital currency became public knowledge in early 2016, when it was revealed that the PBOC had set up a ‘special research team’ – that included experts from Citibank and Deloitte among others – to research and look into the regulatory frameworks for issuing a nationwide digital currency.

First appeared at CCN