Electronic currency, including virtual coins which are usually used for playing online games, have become a new focus for China's central bank.

Li Chao, director of the Office of the People's Bank of China, has told local media that the central bank has begun to pay attention to virtual coins and is working on relevant regulations which are expected to come out next year to regulate and supervise virtual coins.

It has been a long concern among Chinese Internet analysts about the nature of virtual currency and whether it will affect the CNY currency market. Internet experts quoted in local reports have said that virtual coins are only a type of product and they will not bring any impact to the tangible currency market.

However, once the virtual coins can be changed with Renminbi, it will bring great risk to such games operators like Tencent. Some proposals urge linking virtual currency with CNY in order to better protect the interests of netizens who collect and use the virtual money.