What exactly is digital yuan
A few days ago, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China and State Grid Xiong'an Financial Technology Group Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing. The two parties will carry out strategic cooperation in the field of digital renminbi pilot testing innovation and application.
The digital renminbi is getting closer and closer to us. Recently, 47,573 Shenzhen residents were the first to experience the freshness of using digital renminbi. During the digital RMB red envelope campaign jointly launched by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government and the People's Bank of China, these citizens received red envelopes and completed 62,788 transactions using digital RMB.
What exactly is digital yuan? What is the difference between it and the RMB banknotes we are using today? To put it simply, digital RMB is the digital form of legal tender, that is, the digital version of RMB banknotes in our hands.
Compared with digital tokens such as bitcoin, the most critical difference between legal digital currency and bitcoin is whether there is a national credit endorsement and whether the currency value can be guaranteed. Take Bitcoin as an example, the value of the currency cannot remain stable, and it is common for the price to fluctuate greatly. In March of this year, Bitcoin once opened an "avalanche" market, with the largest drop of more than 50% within 24 hours, and the price fell by two-thirds within a week.
Libra, which Facebook previously planned to launch, is also different in nature from legal digital currencies such as the digital yuan. Libra has become a stable currency by "pegging" to fiat currency, and its plan is to become an international reserve currency that is decoupled from sovereign countries and can maintain long-term stability of the currency value. But in the era of credit currency, how Libra can be trusted and used is a big problem. The initiators of Libra include many companies, but they have not obtained the national credit endorsement. Therefore, many companies that have participated have withdrawn from the Libra plan.
Different from Bitcoin and Libra, my country's digital renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China. It is a legal currency in digital form with value characteristics and legal compensation. Digital RMB is equivalent to banknotes and coins. Anything that banknotes can buy, digital RMB can buy; foreign currencies that banknotes can exchange can also be exchanged for digital RMB.
The "People's Bank of China Law of the People's Republic of China (Draft for Comments)" recently released by the People's Bank of China stipulates that the RMB includes both physical and digital forms, providing a legal basis for my country's issuance of digital currency. The "Draft for Comments" also clarifies that the issuance of digital tokens is illegal in my country - no unit or individual may make or sell token tickets and digital tokens to replace RMB in the market.
Others will ask, isn't the balance on the bank card also a number? How is it different from digital yuan? To put it simply, digital RMB is currency and money, and the balance on the bank card is a deposit. For deposits, the bank will accrue interest in accordance with relevant regulations. The digital renminbi is equivalent to cash, and the digital renminbi in the digital renminbi wallet does not count for interest.
What is the difference between digital RMB and payment tools such as WeChat Pay and Alipay? Mu Changchun, director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, explained that WeChat Pay and Alipay are financial infrastructure and "wallets"; digital renminbi is a payment tool and the content of "wallets". After the issuance of the digital renminbi, you can still use WeChat payment and Alipay to pay, but the content of the "wallet" has increased the central bank currency.
In the future, after the digital renminbi is launched, its exchange will be free. According to Mu Changchun, the digital renminbi is non-profit and pursues the maximization of social efficiency and welfare. Therefore, the People's Bank of China has established a free digital renminbi value transfer system and financial infrastructure, and does not charge circulation fees to the issuing layer, and commercial banks do not Customers are charged a service fee for digital renminbi redemption and redemption.
"We found that counterfeit digital renminbi wallets have appeared in the market." Mu Changchun said that when most consumers do not know much about digital renminbi, there are some counterfeit digital renminbi wallet application software on the market. of users to download, consumers should also be careful. At present, the digital renminbi is not open to the public for testing, let alone its official launch. Therefore, apps such as the so-called "digital renminbi wallet" that can be downloaded online are all counterfeit goods.
At present, although the digital renminbi has carried out internal closed pilot tests in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan New Area, Chengdu and future Winter Olympics scenarios, there is no timetable for its launch. The central bank reminds consumers to be wary of various applications that counterfeit digital renminbi and so-called wealth management products under the banner of digital currency to avoid being deceived.
(Editors: Meng Zhe, Zhuang Hongtao)
