Macau Uses Two More Casino Hotels For COVID Medical Facilities

What is a central bank digital currency? It's the virtual form of a fiat currency -- that is, government-issued money that isn't backed by other commodities like gold or silver. In short, a CBDC is just the digital form of a country's official currency. As nothing more than a computer code, these currencies could be stored on central ledgers within a country's national bank or on a distributed ledger the way private cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are.

Frustration is mounting amongst residents at the government's handling of the outbreak. Some residents have had to queue for more than 20 hours to access healthcare facilities, and many are desperate to go back to work again. "There is so much anger in the community," said one casino executive who declined to be named due to company policy.

While the government has not imposed the type of citywide lockdown seen in mainland Chinese cities, Macau is effectively closed with most facilities shut. Residents have been asked to stay home, public transport is curtailed and restaurants are only providing takeaway.

But as cryptocurrencies gain in popularity, grabbing an increasing share of the global financial pie, governments have taken notice, and now many of them are exploring how to get a piece of the action. One possibility is what's known as a CBDC, or a central bank digital currency.

US digital wallets could upend commercial banking Digital wallets issued by the Fed, though, would be a destabilizing form of CBDC. "It really messes with the general pyramidal structure of central banking as a concept, which has always been that central banks are not bankers to average citizens," according to Peebles. As a rule, central bankers oversee the banking system, whereas private banks interact with the consumer. 

China, which outlawed cryptocurrency last year, is leading the "in-development" pack with the digital yuan, having trialed over $5 billion worth of transactions since June 2021. China has conducted various real-world pilot runs to test the "reliability of economic theories, the stability of systems and the controllability of risks," according to a recent report by the People's Bank of China. These pilot runs included giving digital yuan to a random pool of applicants to be spent at designated offline locations or on the site of China's largest online retailer, JD.com. 

LOCKDOWN RUMOURS Residents thronged to food markets and grocery stores on Thursday, spooked that the city would be fully locked down. If you want to learn more information on casino online philippines look into our own web site. The government denied the rumours and urged the public not to panic and hoard food, according to local broadcaster TDM.

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HONG KONG, July 6 (Reuters) - Macau has locked down one of the city's most famous hotels, the Grand Lisboa, after more than a dozen COVID-19 cases were found there on Tuesday, with infections spreading rapidly in the world's biggest gambling hub.

HONG KONG, July 8 (Reuters) - Macau authorities have added two hotels in popular casino resorts to be used as COVID-19 medical facilities from Friday as they try to increase capacity to handle a surge of infections in the world's biggest gambling hub.

The money would essentially be in an account you'd have with the Federal Reserve or some entity such as a private bank that the Federal Reserve partners with. When you paid for something, the Federal Reserve would take money from your digital wallet and deposit it directly into the other party's digital wallet, bypassing the complex web of networks currently involved in electronic payments. As a plus, this would remove fees generally associated with such payments. 

The closely watched casino licence rebidding process comes amid Macau's worst coronavirus outbreak, with the government shutting down casinos for the first time on Monday in more than two years and locking down the city.

That's what the digital dollar would promise. CBDCs could bypass the traditional banking system by allowing money to flow directly between parties, just like exchanging cash or transferring funds electronically. 

Only Macau's casinos have been allowed to stay open in a move to ensure job security. The government relies on the industry for more than 80% of its tax revenue with most of the population employed directly or indirectly by the casino resorts.

While the government has stopped short of imposing a full scale lockdown in the former Portuguese colony, seen in Chinese cities such as Shanghai, most facilities are shut and restaurants can only provide takeaway.

This week marks 30 years since Victoria introduced the first pokie machines at a pub in Melbourne's eastern outskirts, which then premier Joan Kirner described would result in 'better social, recreational facilities and a better night out.'