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COVID-19

US Authorities Seized COVID-19 fraud website from the seller who tried to sell it for Bitcoin.

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In several countries, authorities are warning individuals and businesses to be cautious following the rise in the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic scams.

As per the latest announcement released by the United States Homeland Security (DHS) and the Departments of Justice (DOJ), a COVID-19 Fraud website was  Seized from Seller  Who Attempted to Sell It Using Bitcoin in the “hacker forum.”

The owner posted it for sale on a hacker’s forum saying that the domain would be an efficient way to sell “high markup in-demand products.” The website was listed on sale on the forum one day after the United States President declared a national emergency due to the pandemic of COVID 19.

An undercover agent reached out to the seller and the seller clarified that the domain was charged $500, payable in bitcoin.  Authorities said in the warrant Domains like this are typically valued closer to just $20. Finally, the investigator transferred a partial payment to an unknown bitcoin address.

Authorities further revealed that, during a conversation with the seller, the undercover agent of Homeland Security Investigations said he wanted to use the website to sell fake COVID-19 test kits. The seller supposedly said it was a ‘genius’ idea, he wanted to do it as well but he couldn’t arrange enough cash to purchase the items from Alibaba [a Chinese e-commerce site].

The seller also guided the undercover agent on how to set up a new website on the domain that will not be tracked and shut down by US authorities in the future.

 “Sadly, criminals are using the current pandemic as an opportunity to generate proceeds while so many Americans are suffering,” said William S. Walker, acting HSI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge. “Homeland Security Investigations and our partners will continue to aggressively pursue those who attempt to illegally capitalize on this crisis through illicit money-making schemes.”

Earlier this week, the DOJ reported that the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has investigated over 3,600 complaints related to COVID-19 scams. These fraudulent websites sell bogus vaccines and cures, run fake charity fundraisers, and deploy malware. However, a detailed list of the confiscated domains was not made public, so it is unclear clear this latest case relates to any of the statements DOJ made earlier.

 

FBI Warns Rising Cryptocurrency Scams During COVID-19 Pandemic

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The coronavirus pandemic tends to bring out the best of so many people as individuals, governments, and companies come together to fight COVID-19. And there are the cybercriminals taking advantage of paranoia and the need for information to spread malware and defraud victims.

As cybercriminals continue to exploit the COVID 19 pandemic, the FBI is advising that people be alerted to a spike in COVID-19 related cryptocurrency fraud schemes. The widespread acceptance of cryptocurrency by business and its growing popularity have contributed to the spike in crypto scams. In a warning published on its website said :

“Fraudsters are leveraging increased fear and uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic to steal your money and launder it through the complex cryptocurrency ecosystem”

According to the FBI, people should be watchful about cryptocurrency fraud schemes such as blackmail attempts, work from home, paying for non-existent treatments or equipment, investment scams.

With the current COVID-19 situation, traditional methods of blackmail are coming with a twist. The scammer may threaten you to release your personal information or secrets and infect you and/or your family with coronavirus unless payment is sent to the Bitcoin wallet.

The FBI warns about the Money Mule Scheme in work from home scams, where criminals trick their victims into illicit money laundering by asking them to send donations or receive money on behalf of someone who pretends to be in need.

Scammers may try to sell online products claiming to prevent COVID-19 and accept payment in cryptocurrencies for products that do not actually exist. Many of the COVID-19 scams are attempts by corporations and individuals to sell goods that they say to prevent or cure the novel coronavirus that has already killed more than 100,00 people all over the world.

To Stop Scams Involving Cryptocurrency

The FBI advises

  • Verify that a vendor/charity is legitimate and accepts cryptocurrency before sending payments/donations.
  • Conduct extensive research on potential investment opportunities.
  • Do not use your personal bank accounts for work-from-home business-related activity or provide your bank account information to someone who is not named on the account.
  • Contact law enforcement before paying out blackmail and/or extortion attempts and before converting your money into cryptocurrency to pay them.

 

Since the end of February, phishing emails have increased by more than 600 percent as cybercriminals try to capitalize on the fear and confusion caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports.

The confusion, diversion and, weakness that results from crises spells space for criminals. Epidemic coronavirus is no exception. When some of you are at home, practicing social distance and regular hand washing to stop the coronavirus, note that scammers are always busy trying to trick people.

It is the duty of the person to protect themselves and their loved ones from being scammed by staying alert and contact the law enforcement immediately if you think you have been a victim of a coronavirus scam.

How Blockchain Can Help in Tracking COVID-19 Cases – India

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The world is going through a pandemic, financial markets are uncertain of their movements and the economy is on the edge of stumbling. Amidst the chaos, one good thing is that the world was never this technologically capable of handling such an undesirable phenomenon, but now, things are different. We have more technology now than ever. Right from Artificial intelligence to 3D printing, Drones, and Blockchain – Emerging Tech is breaking the norms. 

I know what you’re thinking! This is the same old, “Let’s put blockchain in everything we can” kind of an article. Honestly? It’s okay to feel so. Blockchain was meant for real-life use cases, doesn’t change the fact it can be integrated into multiple ecosystems for better functionality. 

Recently, I got a message from the government of India that was broadcasted in bulk to everyone. The message was about “Aarogya Setu” – a live COVID-19 case tracking application. The app has 10 million+ downloads from its launch which was a week ago! 

I downloaded the application to check out the type of data the government was taking for tracking. Didn’t come through as a surprise when the application needed endless permissions regarding, your location and requires you to keep your device Bluetooth on. 

Millions of people are totally fine with giving out their whereabouts just to make sure they’re safe [while quarantining in their homes] and at no point come in contact with a Covid-19 positive case. I mean does the general public care about what kind of applications suck their data and what is being done with it or not? 

As a technology enthusiast, I care and most tech-savvy people do because we understand the importance of data and how it can be misused if fallen into wrong hands. 

But Bluetooth seriously? The data between your device and the Bluetooth connected peripheral is encrypted but it isn’t too hard to not hack especially with the knowledge that millions of people in India have permitted it to be so. 

With all the vulnerability even Bluetooth is not a problem, there might be no other accurate way to scale it this way. The problem comes in when you think about how the data is being handled. 

To understand that better, I spoke to a couple of acquaintances and sources. 

A source told me how if you mark as “sick” on the Aarogya Setu app the next thing would be taking the information offline. A person visits your home, marks down your symptoms and delivers it to the nearest testing center, and arranges for a test. At this point, the data goes offline. 

We cannot track who all come out positive and who all don’t because there’s no empirical evidence after a point. 

Indicating how the count for Covid-19 positive cases could be way more than its actual count of 7445 [at the time of writing]. We can fight this with a blockchain!

Each testing center/ hospital can run a node on the blockchain. Every time a person shows positive symptoms for COVID-19 and gives out the details of it, a trigger alerts the hospitals. The person gets a timeslot to run tests and the result of it is put out on a public blockchain if it comes out as positive. 

Vikram Anand, the Co-founder of Hypermine a startup recently accelerated by Aeternity Ventures said:

“Blockchain can help in two aspects of COVID-19 traceability: Privacy and Tamper Proof. The privacy aspect stands second to tamper-proof. The primary setback is the way user data is being generated and stored. We don’t know for sure if it is being tampered or not, perhaps an immutable ledger can help over an unstructured database.”

While talking about blockchain to help in COVID-19 cases, a company that stands out is TruePic. Talk about bringing authenticity to the general public over all the photoshopped images and videos of Covid-19 cases. 

To help us out understand a bit more, I reached out to Mounir Ibrahim the VP of Strategic Initiatives at Truepic, he said:

“Truepic is helping its partner CIEPD in Nigeria track the community and government’s response to COVID-19 with verified imagery.  One important aspect to verified imagery is immutability, and currently, Truepic leverages Blockchain as a way to record immutable references to digital images and videos.” 

All that is being said and done, I reached out to the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka Dr. Ashwathnarayan, to pitch how blockchain could actually help us out better, no comment as of now. I’ll update the article as soon as I get one. 

 

 

 

Covid-19, Supply Chain and The Blockchain

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Countries keep fighting the COVID 19 as it infects more than 1.5 million people worldwide. How long is this COVID-19 crisis going to last? It’s hard to put together reliable data to predict when it’s going to end.

The death toll of coronavirus continues to increase dramatically in many countries and has impacted the community’s economy and everyday life. Coronavirus struck industries hardest like the grocery, transportation, hospitality and supply chain. Organizations around the world are facing significant changes to their supply chains with the advent of COVID-19.

The pandemic has clearly exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains. Organizations internationally displayed varying degrees of sensitivity. This exposed a breakdown in the connection needed to track, locate, authenticate, finance and clear medical goods, materials, etc. across trade channels, in a secure, verifiable and efficient manner.

Let us think of the supply chain as a network of supplies. Groups of manufacturing facilities are connected along the way by transport routes with many storage locations. Because of social distance requirements, manufacturers that rely on labor-intensive processes that allow people to work closely together were disrupted.

Like transportation networks, if truck drivers get sick, they run the risk of disruption. It is hard to predict precisely where disturbances are most likely to be felt however different supply chains have been disrupted and badly affected.

Blockchain and how it can help supply chain?

Although blockchain‘s most popular usage is in the cryptocurrency, the fact is that blockchain — essentially a digital transaction ledger that is duplicated and distributed across the blockchain’s entire network of computers.

Each block in the chain includes a number of transactions, and each time a new transaction takes place on the blockchain, a record of this transaction is added to the ledger of each participant. Because each transaction is spread over several nodes as multiple copies of the ledger, this is highly transparent.

Blockchain provides certain things which are necessary for reliability and integrity in a supply chain. .More documents can’t be deleted in the blockchain which is an additional benefit. Since blockchain allows the transfer of funds anywhere in the world, it is very convenient for a globalized supply chain.

Because of the difficulty and lack of transparency of our existing supply chains, blockchains could transform the supply chain and the logistics sector.

Blockchain definitely has the ability to increase the efficiency and transparency of supply chains and has a positive impact on everything from warehousing to distribution through until payment.

Covid-19 and The Blockchain

The World Economic Forum (WEF) published a report on 6 April highlighting how digitization and blockchain can help survive supply chain disruptions, particularly in crises like covid-19. Amid disturbances in the supply chain caused by coronavirus, several experts echoed the need for greater visibility across the chain. In my opinion, blockchain is the best solution for visibility.

Blockchain networks could theoretically help push products faster in the present covid-19 crisis, as alternative suppliers could be found faster. With greater understanding of vendors and products stocks during a disruption, many customers might recognize where suppliers send products to new sources and redirect shipments where they are most necessary

Decentralized goods focused on blockchains may be a solution for several business transformations. To push the company to the next level, we collaborate with industry experts, influencers and designed platforms.COVID-19 has brought to light many organisational weaknesses and obsolete business flows. The current slowdown provides an opportunity for a potential reset button for many organisations.

Following a Challenging March, What are some Fintech Highlights?

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Almost every industry is feeling the impact of the current coronavirus epidemic. From retail and consumer packaged goods to entertainment, sports, travel, and recreation, each sector has a different impact and faces its own specific challenges.

The companies are in a lockout amid national governments ‘curfew policies. Company strategists find the environment hard to change. An inevitable danger of closing down the business and the need to build long-lasting business structures has left leaders terrified by what lies ahead. Businesses around the world are surviving the lockdown through remote working. Millions of employees are logging on to online co-working spaces.

Forbes correspondent Robert Walcott compares the present crisis to Julius Caesar’s  49 BCE rubicon. A time at which businesses must remove all signs of uncertainty, from fundamental business and digital transformation.  In fact, there exists a space of digital savvy companies that are shifting and adjusting faster to the hard time. 

Organizations that are at the core of transforming how they function, building products, serving customers and protecting themselves. These companies, whose deep market has been a rare but collapsing segment of the market share, include Slack, Zscaler, Zoom and Crowdstreak.

The start of the year signaled a closer launch of China’s digital yuan, but the wake of Covid-19 pushed down the chances of launching the digital currency. The pandemic highly affected staff members leading to delays and expertise setbacks. 

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance launched a crypto campaign against Covid-19 through its Binance Charity Foundation. The objective of the campaign is to raise at least $4 million that will be spent on outbreak-affected nations. Donors are sending their funds through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

The infection has also placed unprecedented strains on the global medical supply chain. Ventilator shortages and lack of personal protective equipment have urged firms to design open source movements. A method that converts medical supplies to better care for the health sector during the epidemic.

Manufacturers have moved online and are contracting a million dollar worth of business across the internet supply chain. However, a big problem of trust exists between contractors. It is clear that the blockchain is the only digital facilitator for trust and guarantee. 

Some experts believe that this is the best time for companies that have faded after the 2008 financial crisis to recover and overcome. There is a possibility for companies to readjust using digitization and services from companies such as Zoom. The proximity of innovations will ensure incrementalization of IoT, data analytics and blockchain workflow technology, business generation, and product creation.

The virus has also affected government operations and policy-making processes. A Chinese media outlet claimed government institutions had earlier on postponed their work. Some of these institutions included the People’s Bank of China, research staff for the digital renminbi and policymakers. 

Nevertheless, some companies have kept going and scaling their businesses. Some admit that innovating during a time of crisis is tough.  It remains evident that the businesses that fail to adjust will win or lose. Some could meet their end, while a couple seems to be having a taste of their winning rubicon.

People’s Bank of China (PBoC) Almost Complete Sovereign Digital Currency

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Amidst the COVID-19 adverse effect across China and the world at large, there seem no setbacks in the development of China’s digital yuan.

As per the report shared by a Global Times on Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is way closer to issuing digital yuan. The report was cited with the “industry insiders”, adding to that the central bank is also drafting relevant laws to roll out its national digital currency.

The news comes in a wake of China’s anti-crypto, elaborating three types of scams happening across crypto exchanges. In addition to this, the bank had also noted the crowning cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is not a safe haven and it is too volatile.
On the other side, the recent report also noted that the country’s leading payment platform, Alipay’s patent shows several functions required to circulate, issue or proceed payment for digital currency. The industry insider told the Global Times as follows;

“Judging from the patents, the first step of technological development has been basically completed,”

However, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) early this year acknowledged that the top leave design of the sovereign digital currency has been completed. However, he quietly noted that the currency is progressing smoothly.

With the coronavirus epidemic continued, people rarely care about fiat or paper money that may likely act as a reason for more COVID-19 cases. That being said, Bitcoin and other digital currencies have been considered as a feasible solution. On the same stance, Industry Insider suggested that the country should move forward of launching this digital currency in ongoing COVID-19 crises which have also affected the financial system.

Nonetheless, Cao Yan, managing director of Digital Renaissance Foundation, stated that;

“If there is a chance China is considering lowering its interest rate into negative territory as a final option and directing such policy to commercial loans and lending, a circulated digital currency rather than M0 will be able to achieve that,”

Italian Red Cross Bitcoin Fundraiser Hits Target Within 3 Days

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The Italian Red Cross outlined a new Bitcoin initiative to purchase medical impediment after the initial Bitcoin fundraiser had exceeded the target in three days. The Italian Red Cross organized a bitcoin appeal to help acquire advanced medical posts for a triage facility in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic.

After only three days of setting up the bitcoin fundraiser, Red Cross has revealed that it had achieved its target of about $10,710 (€10,000).In addition, the Red Cross announced that it had begun to purchase the equipment necessary for stationing the triage facilities.

This time around, the charitable organization has set a new goal of about $26,000 to procure the equipment needed for emergency operations, which involves a defibrillator with a vital signs monitor. In fact, this latest bitcoin project has met more than 75 percent of the target set from only 55 donors at the time of writing. The charitable group has spent about $20,000 to date.

Crypto community role in the fight against coronavirus pandemic

As the COVID-19 epidemic intensifies, the cryptocurrency community has provided several novel insights and hands-on strategies. 

Coinbase, leading global crypto exchange firm, formally developed a code related to multi-stage coronavirus response plan.The Coinbase system entails how companies should respond to specific occurrences, such as increased cases within a vicinity.

An international group of developers has been rolling out the “CoronaCoin” whose supply relates to the number of COVID-19 related deaths. The project has been dubbed as an unhealthy joke, however, the developers have defended their plan by comparing the asset to the pandemic bonds; issued by the World Health Organisation, which also similarly amass value. 

The digital currency community has engaged and contributed to various projects that are helping to combat COVID-19 globally. Platforms like Folding@Home, which capitalizes on additional computational power to assist in medical research; have gained tremendous support from the cryptocurrency community.

In particular, the Tezos Foundation has set up a pool of hundreds of XTZ to become the most significant Folding@Home contributor. Additionally, CoreWeave has redirected approximately 6,000 GPUs that were initially used to mine ETH towards the project.

Moreover, Ethereum based crowdfunding network, Gitcoin, revealed on March 14 that it had committed about $50,000 in grants funding; to the public health initiatives that are battling the coronavirus pandemic. Gitcoin is looking forward to raising at least $100, 000 towards the course.

The rise in crypto-related COVID-19 scams

Cybercriminals are capitalizing heavily on the coronavirus pandemic using digital currencies to obscure their tracks. Scammers have established “phishing” attacks using text messages, emails, and social media platforms; to exploit the panic caused by the widespread coronavirus.

According to a report by cybersecurity researcher Chester Wisniewski on March 19, fraudsters have been posing as the World Health Organization (WHO) to seek BTC grants through email. 

Furthermore, a cyber threat research firm, DomainTools on March 13; published a report regarding a website that infects users’ phones with ransomware.

The website, named coronaviruapp.site, will infect a user’s mobile phone with COVID-19 themed ransomware; that resembles a heat map showing the spread of coronavirus across the globe. The malware demands a ransom in bitcoin. 

 

Bitcoin scammers impersonate WHO Coronavirus Response Fund to Funnel Donation Money

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Bad players in the cryptocurrency space have always been the industry’s burden and remain one of the biggest disincentives for institutional investors. Bitcoin scams have become so commonplace that they have even begun to affect legitimate large-scale ventures.

The Internet scan revealed that Bitcoin scammers were impersonating the website of the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for their own nefarious intentions.

Instead of using a website, the Bitcoin scammers sent emails to multiple people asking them to donate to a bitcoin address. Apparently, the capital collected would be used to provide resources for everyone fighting Coronavirus on the front lines. It was obvious from the outset to those familiar with the project that the email was part of a scam.

The actual Response Fund has its own website at covid19responsefund.org where people can donate set amounts between $25 and $2500 or any amount of their choice. On the website, users also have the option to make their payments part of a monthly cycle to continue the fight against COVID-19.

WHO
https://covid19responsefund.org/

The release on the website read:

“The greatest need right now is to help ensure all countries are prepared, especially those with the weakest health systems. Donations support WHO’s work to track and understand the spread of the virus; to ensure patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies and information; and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments.

Beware of these new coronavirus email scams

The scam mail tried to first explain what the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was about, including a list of objectives of the “organization”. These objectives included enabling all countries to track and detect COVID-19 by boosting laboratory capacity through training and equipment. One of the paragraphs in the mail spoke about the grim reality of what might occur and the solutions for it. It said:

“The Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan outlines a funding need of at least US$675 million for critical response efforts in countries most in need of help through April 2020. As this outbreak evolves, funding needs are likely to increase.”

There have been several cases of people skirting the law for their needs during these trying times. The Coronavirus has spread to more than 80 countries now and new cases were being reported every day. As health officials continue to ask people to practice ‘social distancing’, it was heinous that Bitcoin scammers would go the other way.

It can only be hoped that the people behind the latest scam be brought to justice quickly as their email blast may have nasty ramifications. Money that was supposed to be used for assisting the sick would be diverted to the pockets of Bitcoin scammers and that just cannot be allowed. Users in the cryptocurrency industry must band together to create awareness about this Bitcoin scam so that help can be given to those who deserve it.

Crypto Firms Have 30 Days to Submit Coronavirus Contingency Plan

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The New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) has requested all state-sanctioned cryptocurrency-firms to submit a detailed plan on how to combat the coronavirus menace.

In a letter dated 10 March, NYDFS sets out a comprehensive list of items that it expects entities in the cryptocurrency sector to cover in their’ preparedness plan;’ involving potential risks caused by the historical corona epidemic.

In its letter, NYDFS asked crypto firms to include details on how to deal with operational disruptions, measures taken to protect its employees, the communication strategy for dealing with customers, and details on how to “manage the effects of the outbreak” in addition to other risks. The letter reads:

“COVID-19 has already had adverse economic effects domestically and globally. It is critical that each regulated entity establish plans to address how it will manage the effects of the outbreak and assess disruptions and other risks to its services and operations.”

Moreover, the regulator has given the crypto firms only 30 days to submit the coronavirus contingency plans. The plans should comprehend all the details covering all the systems, facilities, policies and schemes that would be fundamental to keep running operations even in the absence of key staff members.

In particular, there are currently only 18 crypto firms with the highly coveted New York BitLicense, which allows them to deal with digital currencies. These firms include Coinbase, Tagomi, Gemini, Ripple, Square, Coinsource and Circle, among others.

Coinbase submitted ‘preparedness plan’ last month 

Interestingly, giant cryptocurrency exchange firm, Coinbase issued its coronavirus preparedness plan back in February.  As countries, firms and individuals prepare for the worst following the spread of the deadly virus; crypto firm Coinbase already has a contingency plan on how it will navigate through this period of uncertainty. 

Interestingly, Coinbase issued its plan for the preparation of coronavirus back in February.  As countries, firms and individuals prepare for the worst after the spread of the deadly virus; the crypto firm Coinbase already has a contingency plan on how to navigate through this period of uncertainty.

The giant exchange which has offices in the United States, Ireland, Japan, and the U.K.; planned for three phases of the deadly virus. According to the document shared by the firm last month:

“We have a standing Crisis Management Team continually reviewing new information as it comes in. We have established a four tier escalation ladder (from tier 0 to tier 3) in response to changes that impact Coinbase offices.”

As per the document, for instance, there are 100 cases of infection within the commuting radius of a given Coinbase office; the management will ask certain individuals to conduct their operations from home. Moreover, the management will also step up the cleaning schedule of those offices; as well as installing necessary equipment and facilities such as mask disposal bins

Moving forward, the NYDFS  demand provides a quick view of the state’s response to an epidemic that spreads like a wildfire. Even before the request was made, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio had long declared a state of emergency to counter the spread of a highly communicable disease.

Global Markets hit hard by COVID-19

As a result of the tension created by coronavirus across the world; the cryptocurrency market has suffered huge blows as traditional markets and U.S. stocks; suffer their heaviest plunge in over 30 years. 

The price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency plummeted by more than 40% within 48 hours. Many technology firms have resolved in asking their employees to work remotely and a number of cryptocurrency events have been canceled world wide.

 

China’s Digital Renminbi in the Face of an Epidemic

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The World Health Organization, on Wednesday, declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Officially known as COVID-19, CNBC reported on March 11 that coronavirus has spread sufficiently worldwide to warrant classification as a pandemic. From Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, the virus has spread quickly to over 121,000 people.

Will Covid-19 Drive Inception of the Digital Yuan?

Former Chinese Central Bank president told press reporters that they are currently considering digital currency as a way to counter  the spread of Coronavirus. It came following a government ultimatum to clean cash in February, before giving it back to the public.

In fact, the government has quarantined old paper notes worth at least $85.9 billion. As a result, they also published the same amount of new money in the virus ‘ originating area-Hubei. The ultimatum required banks to issue sterilized notes only to the public. Therefore reducing the chances of spreading of coronavirus during transaction activities from person to person.

The former People’s Bank of China president Lihui Li told China Daily how a digital payment system would bring convenience during epidemics. Lihui Li currently serves as the blockchain head for National Internet Finance Association (NIFA). NIFA is a state-run fintech organization.

In addition, Lihui Li highlighted the adoption of digital stablecoins was partially dependent on retail demand. For instance, the retail market in China is presently dominated by WeChat and Alipay. Both of these are pretty excellent forms of digital payment and alternative payment means. 

In the aftermath of the coronavirus attack, both micro-and macroeconomics suffered. The effect has obviously impacted money supply, especially from high-risk sites. PBOC requires officials, for example, to seal all the money from hospitals and volatile markets and issue it to the central bank. And the central bank reissues the money back to circulation.

China’s PBOC deputy governor highlighted the nation’s focus on national health and safety. The official said: 

“After the outbreak, we paid great attention to the safety and health of the public’s use of cash,”

Some of the safety measures that the Central Bank has implemented include suspending cash transfers between provinces. As well as minimizing the movement of business and government personnel and thereby reduce the risk of transmission. Moreover, the Central bank also issued at least $4 billion worth of banknotes to Wuhan. Which is a percentage of the 600 billion new yuan notes that the bank allocated to disinfect the cash in circulation? 

Some have felt that disinfecting the monetary supply will have minimal impact in containing the disease. Muhammad Munir, a professor at England’s Lancaster University said it was difficult to remove traces of the virus from objects, including banknotes. Munir said: 

“While COVID-19 can spread through contaminated objects, the duration of coronavirus survival on currency notes is not determined”

He also added that since most of China’s daily purchases are made online, the impact of cash restriction will have a slight effect on the spread of coronavirus. 

The virologist said the only way to curb disease transmission has been through good hygiene.  Advice that many medical professionals have been communicating with the public.

 Washing hands using alcohol sanitizers could easily restrict hand to hand transmission of the infection. Since the point of transmission among most people exchanging cash is through the hands. Therefore, maintaining hand hygiene should be top of the list while curbing the spread of coronavirus.

On the other hand, a couple of people have felt the need for a central bank-issued stablecoin. This, they say, would be desirable and convenient in times of national disasters.