Coming up with a list of the 100 most influential people in crypto and blockchain is hard in any year. But doing it in 2021 is particularly difficult as the industry advanced from moving into the mainstream to actually being in it. And that makes “influence” a moving target.
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Central bank digital currencies will strip away the mask, Sweden's Riksbank warns (Photo: Pete Linforth/Pixabay)No privacy for digital currencies: Sweden’s central bank
According to the Sveriges Riksbank, central bank digital currencies cannot possibly have the same level of privacy as cash
Sveriges Riksbank researchers argue that “all CBDC payments will involve reconciliation with one or more remote ledgers” that track the transactions and ownership to prevent double-spends. This requirement—according to the bank—should squash the hopes for a cash-like anonymous digital currency.
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The digital yuan isn't planning to crush AliPay and WeChat Pay after all (Photo: Flickr/Philip Roeland)China’s digital yuan will not compete with AliPay or WeChat Pay
Despite threatening an anti-trust investigation this summer, the head of China’s digital currency said it will co-exist with the two dominant mobile payment services
Mu Changchun, the head of the research institute for digital currency at the People’s Bank of China, said that the central bank digital currency won’t compete with the two services, which together hold 94% of the market.
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Digital ruble coming as soon as 2021
The head of Russia’s central bank said a pilot program could come next year, and promised confidentiality but not anonymity
While nothing has been decided, the possibility of launching a digital ruble “is quite real,” she said. It will not replace the physical ruble, she added. The digital ruble project “fits very organically into what is called the development of the digital economy as a whole,” Nabiullina said. “A digital transformation is taking place. Of course, there must be a transformation of the settlement system.”
