The U.S. and China always worked hard to be the Superpower of the world in all possible ways well before the present pandemic situation. The current condition has fueled up the Battle and put up the procedures on Fastrack.
Fight for Digital Dominance
The U.S. and China are among the world’s strongest players in the field of Information and Technology. They compete among themselves to attain the topmost position in all possible fields.
The U.S. Bills
The US Congressman representative of Kentucky’s 2nd district, Brett Guthrie introduced two bills in order to ensure American Supremacy in emerging technology. The bills are,
- The Advancing Blockchain Act – Bill to enhance the use of blockchain technology in the economy
- Countering Online Harms Act- Bill to access different ways Artificial Intelligence can be used to fight online misinformation, illegal content, and other dangerous content.
Brett Guthrie believes that America is a nation of innovation and enterprise and the only way America could beat China by maintaining the American leadership in technology. Emphasizing the need of blockchain technology, Brett Guthrie said,
“Blockchain technology can be used for cryptocurrency, but it has also many other applications, and the Advancing Blockchain Act will allow us to explore the uses to improve our technology.”
‘Libra can be Future Money’- A threat to China
China’s Central Party School has published a new book educating the government officials on Digital Currency and proposed policy measures to deal with emerging challenges like Facebook’s Libra.
According to the book, Libra is the perfect example of public-private relationships and has the potential to become future world currency. At the same time, it cites the possibility of erasing the government’s attempt to increase the international influence of the Chinese Yuan. H\ongzhang Wang, one of the author’s of the book’s preface said,
“ We can’t deal with new risks by discouraging technological developments. This would allow the U.S. companies to build a digital currency system through blockchain technology, which could threaten or even surpass Alipay or WeChat pay.”
Also Read: China one more step closer to replace cash with Digital Yuan – Former President PBOC
Can China’s CBDC flush out U.S plans?
China has rolled out its digital currency and implemented in four cities for testing. It started its work immediately after Facebook announced Libra. Libra, however, received mixed reactions and yet to be approved. China is a step ahead currently and if the U.S lags behind in promoting the digital currency, China could overtake them.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple also urged the government to regulate the digital currencies to avoid the China’s grip on crypto and fiat payments.
Final Thoughts
In this pandemic situation, only technology can help to build the economy. And hence both countries have geared up to become the leader in technology. It would be very interesting to see the impact of the Digital currency of China once Libra is launched.