Sino-Singapore Jingwei Client, August 20th (Wei Wei) Imagine a scenario like this. Every one of us has a digital currency wallet on our mobile phone. Even if the mobile phone is disconnected from the Internet, the two mobile phones can touch your digital currency. Transfer money to another person. This scene may be getting closer and closer to us.
In fact, the People's Bank of China established a special research group to study legal digital currencies as early as 2014, and it has been six years since. Recently, the Ministry of Commerce issued a document stating that a digital renminbi pilot program will be carried out, which has also rekindled the imagination of digital currency.
What is a digital RMB
Central bank digital currency is not conceptually complicated. Dong Ximiao, the chief researcher of Xinnet Bank, told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client that digital currency refers to the digital currency issued by the central bank in parallel with cash, and is a digital form of legal currency. The digital currency of my country's central bank (DC/EP) is simply the electronic version of the renminbi, which is digital renminbi cash.
Industry insiders have revealed that in recent days, the four major banks of China Construction Industry and Agriculture Co., Ltd. have simultaneously tested the "digital renminbi" electronic wallet. Taking into account the system load and other reasons, it is still in the stage of internal testing.
Agricultural Bank of China Digital RMB Wallet Source: Photo by Wei Wei, China-Singapore Jingwei
On April 17 this year, the Central Bank's Digital Currency Research Institute stated that the digital renminbi is currently undergoing internal closed pilot tests in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong'an, Chengdu and future Winter Olympic scenarios to continuously optimize and improve its functions.
In July, Didi Chuxing stated that it had reached a strategic cooperation with the Central Bank Digital Currency Research Institute to jointly study and explore the scenario innovation and application of digital RMB in the field of smart travel. On August 17th, the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client asked Didi Chuxing about the exploration of the scene application. The reply stated that there is no news to disclose for the time being, and further news will be released.
On August 14, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Overall Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Pilot Program for the Innovation and Development of Trade in Services", in which the digital renminbi pilot area was announced. Some people understood that the digital renminbi pilot may be expanded. However, in fact, the current digital renminbi pilots are still in Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou, and Xiongan New District, and the future Winter Olympics scenes have not changed.
However, news broke that the digital currency sector on the capital market is still sought after by investors. According to Wind data, the digital currency index soared 2.81% on August 14th, it rose again by 3.35% on August 17th, and continued to rise by 1.07% on August 18th. It has risen for three consecutive days, which shows the market's enthusiasm for the concept of digital currency. Soaring.
How to apply the five conjectures in the future
The application of digital renminbi has also triggered many speculations. Where can I redeem it? How will it be applied in the future? The Sino-Singapore Jingwei client interviewed a number of industry insiders for answers.
Guess 1: Is the carrier an APP?
Under normal circumstances, residents can exchange paper money in commercial banks, so where can the digital RMB be exchanged?
Judging from the digital currency wallet internal testing images of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank, and Bank of China circulated earlier on the Internet, the four major banks are all testing digital wallet applications.
"Digital currency is still in the testing stage. What is certain is that digital currency is not launching an APP. Each bank may launch a separate APP, or it will be integrated in the APP of each partner bank." Co-founder of PANONY, a financial technology consulting company Bi Tongtong told the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client.
"The cost of user education and use of additional apps is higher. Pilot commercial banks may embed services in existing apps." Yang Wang, Dean of Haldex Institute of Financial Technology and Senior Researcher of Institute of Financial Technology, Renmin University of China Tell the Sino-Singapore Jingwei client.
Guess 2: Do I need to go to the bank to exchange? Can I redeem it in the APP?
From a functional point of view, the functions of digital renminbi wallets of all banks are basically the same. For example, China Construction Bank includes "scanning", "receiving", "payment code" and "transfer", etc. Users can exchange money into digital renminbi through bank accounts. Bank of China includes "recharge", "withdrawal", "transfer", "bank card" and so on. The page of Agricultural Bank includes "Scan QR Code", "Remittance", "Receipt and Payment" and "Touch".
"Judging from the circulating internal test pictures, the main display functions are basically similar to the daily functions of bank electronic accounts." Dong Ximiao said.
In Yang Wang’s vision, the use of digital RMB requires three steps. The first step requires downloading a corresponding mobile phone APP; the second step requires registration, inputting personal name, ID number, mobile phone number and other information, and the relevant information will be displayed on the APP For the personal credit inquiry authorization letter, the user needs to choose to agree or reject; the third step is to bind the bank account, and then the user can use the bank deposit to exchange the digital RMB 1:1.
Zeng Gang, deputy director of the National Finance and Development Laboratory, predicts that there will be two accounts with a high probability in the future, one is a digital RMB account and the other is an account derived from bank account deposits. The two maintain a mutual conversion relationship. Depositors can pay directly from the digital wallet, but it may involve transferring money from the bank account to the digital RMB account before making the payment.
In terms of experience, Yang Wang believes that the digital renminbi wallet is similar to the third-party payment that is currently highly accepted by the public. It can also support QR code payment, fingerprint payment and face payment, but the above payment methods may not It will be launched all at once. Taking into account the technical issues, the QR code payment may be launched first, and then other payment methods will be launched gradually.
Conjecture 3: Money can be transferred successfully by "touching" two mobile phones?
"As long as you and I have a DC/EP digital wallet on your mobile phone, you don’t even need the internet. As long as your mobile phone has electricity, you can transfer the digital currency in one person’s digital wallet to another by touching the two mobile phones. People," Mu Changchun, director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, once said in an online public class.
Yang Wang said that a major feature of the central bank's digital currency is the dual offline payment, that is, mutual transfers can be realized without network signals.
"Of course it's not just touch the money and transfer it away," Yang Wang explained. This function is similar to a secret payment. Users need to sign an agreement with the bank and authorize the function. Every time you enter the transfer scene, you will confirm the payment. You can transfer money only after you click on the consent button. At the same time, this function may agree on an upper limit. Once a certain threshold is triggered, it will not be able to transfer money to ensure user account security.
In terms of security, Bi Tongtong mentioned that some people in the industry pointed out that the currently disclosed patent has not yet explained how to solve the "double-spending problem" in the case of dual offline (note: a sum of money is repeatedly spent twice), and more is needed. Disclosure of technology patents. However, this problem can also be prevented through legal means to prevent evil motives and pay after it occurs.
Conjecture 4: Which scenarios can be paid with digital RMB?
Users are more concerned about the scenarios in which they can use digital RMB. Yang Wang introduced that in addition to recharge and withdrawal, digital renminbi can also be used for transfers between users and consumption.
According to Yang Wang, the application scenarios supported by the current pilot phase include retail, catering, transportation card recharging, etc. As the future pilot applications mature, the application scenarios may be expanded in a wider range.
Recently, the media reported that Hebei Julu County has applied for the central bank's digital currency for environmental protection and other subsidies. The relevant person in charge of Lezhi Technology Company introduced that the company and Julu County, Hebei Province have developed the "Fall in Love with Julu" APP. In the future, local residents’ poverty alleviation subsidies may be issued in the form of digital RMB, and residents can use the APP wallet Realize fund withdrawal, transfer, consumption, and convenient services such as paying party dues, buying train tickets, and charging phone bills can all be settled in digital RMB.
The company is also cooperating with commercial banks. In the future, residents can pay digital renminbi to the bank and convert it into an equivalent amount of renminbi cash, which can be converted to an electronic account of a commercial bank or converted into paper renminbi at bank outlets. It is understood that the APP will be launched in the near future, but the digital RMB function will not be open for the time being, and will be launched after subsequent debugging.
Conjecture 5: Will Alipay and WeChat realize mutual transfers in the future?
At present, for most residents, they are accustomed to using third-party payments such as Alipay and WeChat. Will digital renminbi shake the position of third-party payment in the future?
Bi Tongtong believes that the biggest difference between the central bank's digital renminbi and Alipay and WeChat payment is the difference in legal rights. The central bank's digital currency is endorsed by the state and is equivalent to legal tender. However, the personal assets of ordinary people in third-party payment are actually a bookkeeping, which is based on commercial bank settlement. As for whether the central bank's digital currency will impact the market position of WeChat and Alipay, this is a process determined by the market and depends on the convenience of use, commercial value, and economic scale.
With the introduction of digital RMB, will it be possible to transfer funds between Alipay and WeChat in the future? Yang Wang believes that this matter mainly considers two aspects of willingness and ability. The digital renminbi is a legal digital currency issued by the People's Bank of China based on national credit, that is, any transaction scenario must be unconditionally accepted, and the transfer function should be supported between commercial banks and third-party payments. In terms of willingness, the digital RMB transfer between commercial banks is not a big problem, but there are business barriers to third-party payment. Different platforms may be in the protection of their own business ecology. They will not realize mutual transfers for the time being, and the future is not ruled out. Actually this function. (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
All rights reserved by Sino-Singapore Jingwei. Without written authorization, no unit or individual may reprint, extract and use in other ways.