Alibaba Founder and China's Richest Man Jack Ma: Digital Currency Could Redefine Money

Alibaba founder Jack Ma believes that digital currency will likely redefine money and be at the core of our future global financial system.

On Oct. 24, at the "Second Bund Financial Summit" organized by the China Financial Forty Forum (CF40) and the member institutions of the organizing committees, Jack Ma delivered a speech as the co-chair of the United Nations Digital Cooperation High-level Group.

When talking about digital currency, he said "take digital currency as an example. If the financial system that the world needs 30 years later is built with a future vision, the digital currency may be a very important core."

He further added "the digital currency system is not only a technical problem but also a solution to future problems. Digital currency may redefine currency. Although the main function of currency is still there, it will redefine currency, just like Apple redefines mobile phones, not just being a phone." 

Jack Ma believes that the world looks forward to a new financial system of the future and the only criteria for evaluating this system are inclusive, green, and sustainable, behind which cutting-edge technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and blockchain play a decisive role.

Jack Ma is the richest man in China and is the founder and former chairman of Alibaba, the largest e-commerce platform in China. But he is keen on finance as well. He has built Alipay, one of the earliest payment systems and now the largest payment platform in China. As the operator of Alipay and an affiliate company of Alibaba Group,  Ant Group's listing could be the world's largest IPO which will raise $35 billion.

The financial innovation is exciting but we in fact are facing more tightening regulations. The day before the Summit, China's central bank PBoC sought to prohibit non-official digital currencies in a calling for public opinion or feedback in line with its plans to revise its extant banking laws.