Foreigners who come to China for a short period of time can pay in digital renminbi
Open a digital RMB wallet
On July 16, the central bank's official website released the "White Paper on the Development of China's Digital RMB" (hereinafter referred to as the White Paper). According to the white paper, the public without bank accounts can enjoy basic financial services through digital renminbi wallets, and overseas residents who come to China for a short period of time can open digital renminbi wallets without opening a bank account in mainland China to meet their daily payment needs in China.
It is understood that the Central Bank of China attaches great importance to the research and development of legal digital currency. At present, the research and development test has basically completed the top-level design, function research and development, system debugging and other work. Following the principles of stability, safety, controllability, innovation and practicality, some representative regions are selected to carry out pilot tests.
As of June 30, 2021, there have been more than 1.32 million digital RMB pilot scenarios, covering life payment, catering services, transportation, shopping consumption, government services and other fields. Opened more than 20.87 million personal wallets and more than 3.51 million public wallets, with a total of more than 70.75 million transactions and an amount of about 34.5 billion yuan.
The white paper stated that China's research and development of the digital renminbi system aims to create a new digital form of renminbi for the purpose of meeting the public's cash needs under the conditions of the digital economy. Financial infrastructure, support the development of China's digital economy, improve the development level of inclusive finance, and improve the operational efficiency of the currency and payment system.
The digital renminbi enriches the form of cash provided by the central bank to the public, meets the public's demand for cash in digital form, and facilitates inclusive finance. With the development of digital technology and electronic payment, the use of cash in the field of retail payment is decreasing, but the central bank, as a public sector, is obliged to maintain the channel for the public to directly obtain fiat currency, and to ensure the unity of accounting units under the conditions of the digital economy through the digitization of cash sex. The digital renminbi system will further lower the threshold for the public to obtain financial services and maintain the supply of fiat currency to a wide range of groups and various scenarios. The public without a bank account can enjoy basic financial services through a digital RMB wallet. Overseas residents who come to China for a short period of time can open a digital RMB wallet without opening a bank account in mainland China to meet their daily payment needs in China. The " payment-as-settlement " feature of digital renminbi is also beneficial for enterprises and related parties to improve the efficiency of capital turnover while enjoying the convenience of payment.
Possess technical conditions for cross-border use
According to the white paper, actively respond to the initiative of the international community and explore the improvement of cross-border payment. All sectors of society have paid more attention to the realization of cross-border use of digital renminbi and the promotion of the internationalization of the renminbi. Cross-border payments involve many complex issues such as currency sovereignty, foreign exchange management policies, exchange system arrangements, and regulatory compliance requirements, and are also problems that the international community is committed to solving. Currency internationalization is a natural market selection process, and the status of international currency is fundamentally determined by economic fundamentals and the depth, efficiency, and openness of monetary and financial markets.
Digital RMB has the technical conditions for cross-border use, but it is currently mainly used to meet domestic retail payment needs. In the future, the People's Bank of China will actively respond to the G20 and other international organizations' initiatives to improve cross-border payments, and study the applicability of the central bank's digital currency in the cross-border field. According to the domestic pilot situation and the needs of the international community, the People's Bank of China will explore cross-border payment pilots on the premise of fully respecting the currency sovereignty of both parties and complying with laws and regulations, and follow the three requirements of " no loss " , " compliance " and " interoperability " and related Monetary authorities and the central bank establish legal digital currency exchange arrangements and regulatory cooperation mechanisms, adhere to the two-tier operation, risk-based management requirements and modular design principles to meet the regulatory and compliance requirements of various countries.
The number of pilot scenarios has exceeded 1.32 million
Since the end of 2019 , the People's Bank of China has followed the principles of stability, safety, controllability, innovation, and practicality, and has carried out digital RMB pilot tests in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong'an, Chengdu and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to test theoretical reliability and system stability. , functional availability, process convenience, scenario applicability and risk controllability.
Beginning in November 2020 , six new pilot areas will be added: Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xi'an, Qingdao, and Dalian . The selection of pilot areas for digital renminbi R&D has comprehensively considered factors such as major national development strategies, coordinated regional development strategies, and industrial and economic characteristics of various regions. The current pilot provinces and cities basically cover the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, central, western, and northeastern regions. , Northwest and other different regions, which is conducive to the test and evaluation of the application prospects of digital renminbi in different regions of my country.
As of June 30 , 2021 , there have been more than 1.32 million digital RMB pilot scenarios , covering life payment, catering services, transportation, shopping consumption, government services and other fields. Opened more than 20.87 million personal wallets and more than 3.51 million public wallets , with a total of more than 70.75 million transactions and an amount of about 34.5 billion yuan.
With the active participation and support of local governments, some regions have carried out digital renminbi red envelope activities, realizing real user pilot tests in different scenarios and large-scale centralized testing in batches, verifying the technical design and system stability of digital renminbi business, and the ease of use of products. The usability and scene applicability have enhanced the public's understanding of the design concept of digital renminbi.
Security and privacy: The central bank sets up a " firewall " for digital renminbi-related information
On July 16 , the People's Bank of China held a media briefing to introduce the relevant content of the white paper on the research and development progress of China's digital renminbi. Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the central bank, said at the meeting that the People's Bank of China attaches great importance to the security and privacy issues of the digital renminbi system, and regards legal compliance and safety and convenience as the two most important design principles, which run through all levels of the digital renminbi design framework.
In terms of security, firstly standardize the design, development and operation and maintenance operation process of digital RMB and related systems, the whole life cycle information security management, to achieve the characteristics of non-repeatable spending, non-illegal copying and forgery, non-tampering and non-repudiation of transactions, etc. The multi-level security protection system ensures that the digital RMB operating system meets the requirements of high security, high availability, high scalability, high concurrency, high ease of use and business continuity.
Secondly, initially complete the construction of a multi-level joint prevention and control security operation system, establish an information security management system, focus on strengthening practical training, provide normalized security support for digital RMB, strengthen emergency drills and resource guarantees, and effectively improve the prevention of emergencies. Risk response capability.
At the same time, research new security technologies to improve the security level of digital RMB, introduce research and application of emerging technologies such as distributed digital identity and zero trust, strengthen technical measures for personal privacy data protection, and enhance users' sense of trust and security.
In terms of privacy, Fan Yifei pointed out that the digital renminbi system follows the principle of " small-value anonymity, large-value traceability according to law " , and fully considers the business risk characteristics and information processing logic under the existing electronic payment system, so as to satisfy the public's demand for small-value anonymous payment services. need. At the same time, focus on preventing digital renminbi from being used for telecommunication fraud, online gambling, money laundering and other illegal and criminal activities, and ensure that relevant transactions meet anti-money laundering and other requirements. The digital renminbi system collects transaction information in accordance with the principle of " minimum and necessary " , does not collect excessively, and does not provide it to third parties or other government departments unless clearly stipulated by laws and regulations. The People's Bank of China has set up a " firewall " for digital renminbi-related information , and strictly implements information security and privacy protection management through institutional arrangements such as special-person management, business isolation, hierarchical authorization, post checks and balances, and internal audit, and prohibits arbitrary inquiry and use.
The public without a bank account can enjoy basic financial services through a digital RMB wallet. Overseas residents who come to China for a short period of time can open a digital RMB wallet without opening a bank account in mainland China to meet their daily payment needs in China.
Source: Beijing Youth Daily
