China’s former CBDC chief is under government investigation

• China investigating Yao Qian, the former head of the Digital Yuan project.
• Local media reports say Yao is under probe for “violations of discipline and law.”

Yao Qian, a leading Chinese blockchain expert who previously spearheaded China’s Digital Yuan program, is reportedly under government investigation.

The Digital Yuan is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) project that sparked other countries towards similar efforts. 

Local media reports say China’s anti-graft agency is probing Yao for alleged “violations of discipline and law.”

Ex-Digital Yuan boss under probe

Yao led the Chinese central bank’s CBDC effort before exiting the PBOC in 2018 to join the Securities Regulatory Commission.

On Friday, state-run news agency Shanghai Securities News, reported:  

“Yao Qian, Director of the Science and Technology Supervision Department and Director of the Information Center of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently under investigation by the Central Committee.”

The report did not provide details of the investigation.

China’s probe against the SRC official comes a few weeks after Yao’s recent opinion piece in a local financial news outlet, The Block noted.

His article was titled “Warnings Mount Over Novel Bitcoin ETFs That Have Taken the US by Storm”. The publication went live on Chinese financial media outlet Caixin.

The ex-CBDC chief published a book covering multiple crypto topics, including the decentralised autonomous organisation (DAO), decentralised finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and X-to-earn.