Zhou Xiaochuan helped pave the way for China’s national digital currency, which is poised to have a major impact on both China and the global economy.

A number of experts believe the digital yuan could challenge the supremacy of the U.S. dollar, disrupt China’s well-developed mobile payment industry and create new efficiencies in the Chinese economy. Thanks in part to Zhou’s efforts, while other nations’ digital currencies are still in initial planning stages, China is at the forefront of monetary innovation.

Zhou, 72, was the longest-serving governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). He headed the bank for 15 years starting from 2002, at a critical period for the DC/EP’s development.

“The central bank thinks financial technology can drastically change the future of digital payment and we highly encourage fintech innovations, but digital currency and blockchain would elicit [an] unexpected impact and we need to help develop them while hedging any potential risks ahead,” Zhou said during a press conference in March 2017.

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