My department started the overseas financial information business line last year.
The content covers global stock markets (mainly US stocks), world economy and politics, etc.
Colleagues in charge of overseas business all have overseas study backgrounds and are more familiar with US stocks and US politics.
I am the only one in the department who is most familiar with Crypto because I have experience working in blockchain media.
There is a phenomenon that our editorial background labels Crypto news as "digital currency"
However, in daily online and offline communication, they all call it "digital currency"
I felt something was wrong when I heard it. As far as I can remember, only MLM called it “digital currency”.
1
In my opinion, the words one chooses reflect one's knowledge of a field and his attitude towards it.
So, I want to talk about how to distinguish between cryptocurrency, digital currency, virtual currency, and electronic currency.
In September 2017, experts from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) proposed a conceptual model called "Flower of Money", as shown below:
Demonstrates the connection between cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, commodity currencies, and central bank digital currencies
The visualization of this conceptual model is quite interesting, like the Venn diagram in high school mathematics, but it is more difficult to understand.
Strictly speaking, there is no unified definition of these concepts. The following is my personal understanding
2
Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency, is a positive word, referring to BTC, ETH and other tokens based on public chains
People in the industry often use this term. I think the term "cryptocurrency" is cool.
Because it symbolizes the geek spirit and the rebellious spirit against centralized authority.
In fact, it is not rigorous to call it cryptocurrency.
Because Bitcoin and Ethereum use digital signatures and hash functions, there is no encryption
It doesn’t matter, we can call it the same way as others do, as long as we can reach a consensus.
3
Digital currency, Digital currency, is neutral, referring to cryptocurrency + central bank digital currency
This term usually appears in serious papers, reports and books, such as
Yao Qian and Chen Hua, "Economic Analysis of Digital Currency"
Ren Zhongwen, "Digital Currency: A Reader for Leading Cadres"
David Birch, The Crypto Wars
China’s central bank digital currency is the digital yuan (e-CNY)
Previously it was called DC/EP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment)
The two are easy to distinguish. DC/EP is the project name, and e-CNY is the product name after the project is completed.
4
Virtual currency, Virtual currency, has a negative connotation, referring to cryptocurrency, Q coins, or MLM coins, etc.
Why is it negative? Because "virtual currency" often appears in official Chinese regulatory documents, such as
The 2017.9.4 “Notice on Preventing the Risks of Token Issuance and Financing” mentioned that “any so-called token financing trading platform shall not engage in the exchange business between legal currency and tokens or ‘virtual currency’”
2021.9 "Notice of the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments on regulating virtual currency "mining" activities"
In addition, "virtual currency" appears frequently in negative reports in official media, such as
Securities Times: "Bitcoin plummets again! The central bank strikes hard against virtual currencies again"
China Fund News: "100,000 virtual currency contracts were liquidated within one day, and the wealth of the "richest Chinese" evaporated by 580 billion"
Economic Daily: "Resolutely Cut Off the Virtual Currency Money Laundering Industry Chain"
So whenever I browse the news and see the word cryptocurrency, I know something bad is going to happen.
The stigmatization of the media has led to a very bad impression of cryptocurrencies among the public, as if those who speculate in cryptocurrencies are all scammers and pyramid schemers.
If someone uses "virtual currency" when chatting or writing
I could tell right away that he was critical and dismissive of Bitcoin.
Just as in the central bank system, some officials used virtual currency in their speeches.
Some officials are digital currency, and we can understand their positions and attitudes.
5
Electronic money, Electronic money, is neutral, referring to Alipay or WeChat Pay
To be precise, electronic money is not money, but a wallet. Our electronic money
You can withdraw cash (banknotes and coins) of the corresponding amount from the bank, but you cannot withdraw cash with digital currency
Electronic money is the digitization of accounting, and digital currency is the complete digitization of currency and accounting.
6
Digital currency or virtual currency has a negative connotation and is mostly related to pyramid schemes, fraud and illegal fundraising, such as
Anti-fraud Office: "Exposing the 40 billion virtual currency scam: 3,000 pyramid schemes involving 2 million people"
China Securities Journal: "15 people sentenced, 14.8 billion digital currency pyramid scheme case sentenced! Nearly 2.7 million registered members, using blockchain to defraud, with 3293 levels"
Different circles have very different exposure to information. One of my former fitness coaches
He sent me a digital currency registration website, and my first reaction was that it was a scam
Because no one in my circle of friends and X has discussed this project
