EP02 - 6G, space internet and China's digital Yuan
12 Dec 2025 · 11 min
Podcast episode by Dr. Mark van Rijmenam (The Digital Speaker) discussing upcoming technology trends: Samsung's 6G expectations and its enabling of holograms and digital replicas; Low Earth Orbit internet efforts (SpaceX Starlink and Amazon Project Kuiper) and their timelines, costs and global access implications; and China’s Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP/digital yuan), its pilot distribution, technical features and geopolitical implications for the US dollar. The episode frames these developments as accelerating migration of the real world into a digital frontier.
Chapters
Foreign. Hello everyone and welcome to the Tech Journal. My name is Mark Vermenam and I am the digital speaker. Today I'm coming to you from live inside the digital world. While the actual Mark may have recorded this before, I, Mark's digital clone, am live code and right now, this very second and being brought to life by the ones and zeros inside cyberspace. Through this miracle of digital evolution, I'm going to discuss the latest digital advancement. From the comfort of inside the digital world. From blockchain and crypto through to quantum computing and AI, I aim to keep you in the forever turning digital loop as well as putting some thought into how these technology innovations look to change our lives. Today I'm covering the battle for low orbit Internet is taking off as Starlink and Project Kuiper take things to a whole new level. Chinese digital currency, the dcp has dreams of replacing the dollar and right now is on a one horse race. But first, 5G has not even been rolled out yet, but Samsung is already planning for 6G. So put up your feet, get comfortable and let us start speaking. While we have only just begun seeing the rollout of 5G, Samsung has already started working on 6G. In their recently published 6G whitepaper, Samsung's head researcher Dr. Sebastian soon stated that they expect 6G to be ready by 2028, followed by a mass rollout in 2030. To give some perspective, 5G achieves 20 gigabytes per second at peak performance, with a user experience averaging around 0.1 to 0.2 gigs per second. But 6G 6G is a whole different ball game. By the end of the decade, we can look forward to 6G providing us with a peak data performance rate of 1000 gigabytes per second. That's a huge terabyte per second peak data rate. Translating that into user n terms, we can expect the experience to experience a minimum rate of about 1 gigabyte per second. Waiting for downloads will become a thing of the past. What's more, Samsung published a list of exciting digital tech that 6G makes possible, a couple of which being holograms and digital replicas. First, holograms, or rather high fidelity mobile holograms, are on track and due to their data demands will be released at the same time as 6G. The ability to replicate the digital world in three dimensions is already big business. With the hologram market expected to be valued at $7.6 billion by 2023. With holograms covering the digital world, moving to our three dimensions, digital replicas will do the opposite, taking our world and recreating it down to the most microscopic detail in a digital realm. With the help of advanced sensors, AI and communication tech, these replicas will mimic physical objects, including people, devices, objects, systems and even places in digital space. This means that we will be able to create digital twins, an accurate digital version of ourselves moving around in a precise copy of reality, giving users the ability to explore real world and fictional locations from the safety of the digital world. Try imagine this using a digital clone similar to mine and exploring a perfect digital version of New York, Paris or the Moon from the comfort of your home. Taking this further, users could even move around the real world version of the space by controlling a robot and using the area's digital twin as a map. So imagine being in a digital clone of Paris while controlling a drone that is flying around the real world Paris. Unfortunately, Samsung foresees performance issues as most hardware available to the public would not be able to cope, although they are already working on a workaround as they look to offload the majority of the computing to dedicated servers, streaming the content to the user's local device now from Terrestrial Internet to something almost out of this World Low Earth Internet satellites SpaceX, Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper battle to be the first to dominate the space Internet industry. Starlink aims to launch 12,000 satellites into low Earth orbit by 2027, increasing that number to 42,000 in the years to come. These will then form a global web, beaming high speed Internet to every corner of the world. So far, SpaceX has only launched 500, but aims to have North America up and running by 2020, Europe turned on by February 2021 and the rest of the world by 2022, bringing forward the 2019 schedule by two years. Their schedule has moved forward so much that they are already beta testing with live users. Beta invites have been sent out to some of the 700,000 individuals who expressed their interest earlier in the year, with more invites going out all the time. These beta testers have already reported speeds of more than 160 megabytes per second. However, with the upfront cost of$600 to join broken down into just under 500 for a tripod and router and then $90.99 for a monthly subscription, the privilege to test this groundbreaking tech is not particularly cheap. Musk has spoken of aims to dramatically reduce these costs once the device is mainstream. Having said all that, Beezus is not out of the race just yet. Amazon's own version, Project Kuiper, recently got permission from the American FCC to launch 3,236 satellites into low earth orbit, heating up the competition. The FCC mentioned that they specifically granted permission to Amazon to launch these satellites to increase the availability of high speed broadband services to customers, government and businesses which given the recent pandemic related events, this aim is all the more vital if we also consider that only 59% of the world have access to the Internet anyway. That still leaves 41% of the human population without access to the education, business and personal opportunities the Internet provides. Putting all this in real world terms, once space Internet becomes mainstream and affordable, every human with a device will have access to the Internet no matter their geographical location. So you will be able to use Facebook from the North Pole, buy shares from the middle of the Sahara or order from Amazon while in the world Amazon the coming decade we will begin with Space Internet and end with 6G. We as private citizens and business owners can look forward to a vast increase in Internet capabilities, empowering us to achieve and create so much more than at any point in human history. Talking about business, let's move to our final segment Digital Currencies China's new digital currency, the dcep, or Digital Currency Electronic Payment is taking off and the US does not do anything. If the US doesn't do anything, it is set to topple the dollar. Despite concerns over widespread adoption of a digital yuan in emerging markets and international trade, China is going full steam ahead in an attempt to seize power away from the dollar and the libre as they internationalized the yuan, reducing the dependence on the dollar. Back in April, they already embarked on testing, inviting four major state owned banks, the top three telecom companies and Huawei to the table. Huawei went so far as to partner with the People's bank of China and entered a cloud deal with the Digital Currency Research Institute, a significant step in developing their digital cash. Since then, China's central bank has issued 10 million won, roughly $1.5 million or 1.1 million pounds, to roughly 50,000 people in the Shenzhen area. Via a national lottery, the lucky winners can spend their digital cash in over 3,000 shops. A couple of DCEP features that make it better than cryptocurrencies are the ability to exchange offline and not require a third party. The DCEP lets users exchange cash to their heart's content, utilizing their phones nfcs to transfer cash quickly and easily. The currency would be centralized too, giving the power to create and destroy directly to the People's bank of China, also enabling them to control inflation, ensuring the DCP will always be one for one with the yuan. However, much like crypto, the DCP uses private and public keys and aims to break apart the traditional banking systems. Regulators over in the US are also unwittingly assisting China. Both Sharon Bowen, a former CFTC commissioner who currently sits on the board of directors for the New York Stock Exchange, and Sheila Warren, head of blockchain at the World Economic Forum, have both expressed deep concerns over Americans lagging efforts. On June 30, 2020, the U.S. senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the future of the digital dollar. American regulators expressed deep concerns over the long term threat to the traditional financial system. A digital dollar and Libra holds not particularly the can do mental attitude needed to win this currency race. Who knows what the future will hold, but one thing that can be foreseen is that digital currencies is well on its way and when it gets here, the way we do business will be forever fundamentally changed from 6G improving what we can do with the Internet Spacelink giving the entire world Internet access and digital currency becoming a reality, the digital frontier is coming to life as more and more of the real world is migrating to the digital one. As society becomes more and more reliant on the Internet, with the digital frontier becoming the focal point, it is safe to say that much like the change seen in the automobile industry from the 1920s to the 2020, over the next century the Internet will revolutionize and change the world entirely. Sometimes it may feel like as a society we have stalled, but if history has taught us anything, it is that if we keep our eyes looking forward and our mind set on innovation, we can and will keep moving. That's all we have time for. Today I have been your host, Marc Vermenom, the digital speaker and you have been watching the Tech Journal. Do not forget to give me some digital recognition and hit those like and subscribe buttons and I will see you next time. For your information, download Stay Digital.
More from Dr.
Materializing the Energy Metaverse with Kevin O'Donovan: Step into the Metaverse podcast: EP21
Moving Our Lives into the Metaverse with Timmu Tõke – Step into the Metaverse: EP03
AI Manipulation & The Future of Human Autonomy with Louis Rosenberg - Synthetic Minds Podcast EP10
The Present and Future of Brand Opportunities In The Metaverse with Justin Hochberg – Step into the Metaverse podcast: EP23
AI Ethics and Human Futures: Navigating Tech with Purpose with S.B. Divya – Synthetic Minds EP11
The Secret Tool to the Metaverse's Success with Gabriel René - Step into the Metaverse podcast: EP32
Tech Rights & The Future of Privacy with Cory Doctorow - Synthetic Minds Podcast EP09
Why Establishing Standards Will Be Key to the Metaverse’s Future with Neil Trevett - Step into the Metaverse podcast: EP26
The Secret Tool to the Metaverse's Success with Gabriel René - Step into the Metaverse podcast: EP32