The city of Macau, a special administrative territory of China with a burgeoning casino industry, has announced plans to embrace digital currency, CBDC as legal tender.
The Macau government has only included the term “digital currency” in the definition of legal tender, it has not established a deadline for when or which digital currencies will be accepted.
The “Legal regime for the creation and issuance of currency” bill also suggests making it an administrative misdemeanour to refuse to accept legal cash, punishable by fines ranging from 1,000 MOP (US$123.70) to 10,000 MOP (US$1,237).
“Legal tender in Macau includes not only traditional types of banknotes and coins, but also digital currency, which will be given the same status,” says the draft law that the Executive Council of Macau published on Friday.
The government has not established a deadline for when or which digital currencies will be accepted. Furthermore, there is also no word if casinos in Macau will accept the use of such digital currency.
The gaming industry in Macau which has been branded the “gambling capital of the world” and “Monte Carlo of the East,” will undergo huge changes if digital currency can be used in casinos. This is so that the government can more precisely oversee financial transactions.
In an effort to strengthen the CBDC system “relying on national technical strength,” Lei Wai Nong, the secretary for economics and finance, stated in June that Macau is looking to China’s experience in creating the digital yuan to perhaps create its own CBDC.
