The digital currency that the People’s Bank of China says it is close to issuing will give the government unprecedented visibility into how its citizens spend money. But authorities seem especially eager to assure the public that the new system will preserve the anonymity of physical cash—as long as they don’t commit any crimes. It’s not known exactly when the PBOC’s digital currency will be released, but China is widely expected to become the first major economy to issue a digital version of its sovereign currency. An explicit aim of the project is to replace physical cash, which has drawn speculation that the ... (full story)