Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of China e-commerce giant Alibaba, is gearing up for the record-breaking $34 billion stock market listing of his financial technology company Ant Group.
Ahead of the hotly-anticipated Shanghai and Hong Kong floatation, Ma has warned new “digital currencies,” such as bitcoin and China’s digital yuan, could be used to establish a new type of banking and financial system—and called for an overhaul of U.S.-led banking regulations.
“Digital currency could create value and we should think about how to establish a new type of financial system through digital currency,” Ma told the Bund Summit in Shanghai over the weekend in comments first reported by Bloomberg.
China’s bitcoin and blockchain-inspired digital yuan has been the subject of much speculation in recent months, with questions raised as to how it, and other digital currencies that are expected to follow, will affect the global financial system, the commercial banking industry, and central bank policy. Earlier this year, JP Morgan warned China-led central bank digital currencies pose a “great threat” to U.S. geopolitical power and U.S. dollar hegemony.
