Transaction volume exceeded 60 billion yuan to effectively prevent risks such as market segmentation and privacy leaks

  The full application of central bank digital currency payment tools is approaching

  Core reading

  Digital RMB has the characteristics of loose coupling with bank accounts, payment and settlement, and low cost. It can meet the differentiated needs of users with multiple subjects, multiple levels, multiple categories, and multiple forms, and avoid usage barriers caused by the "digital divide".

It is expected that the future application scenarios of digital renminbi will fully surpass payment tools such as WeChat and Alipay.

  □ Our reporter Zhou Fenmian

  Mobile payment has become an important way of daily consumption.

However, the current payment tools are mainly provided by the private sector, and there may be risks such as market segmentation and privacy leakage.

  In this context, the People's Bank of China has launched the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to provide the public with a credible and safe payment method, which improves payment efficiency while maintaining the stability of the payment system.

The transaction volume is close to 62 billion yuan

  The digital renminbi is a digital legal currency issued by the People's Bank of China, which is equivalent to the physical renminbi and has value characteristics and legal compensation.

  According to Liu Xiaoyu, senior partner of Beijing Bank of China Law Firm, at the end of 2019, the People’s Bank of China will launch digital RMB pilot projects in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’an, Chengdu and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. In November 2020, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xi'an, Qingdao and Dalian have also joined the pilot cities.

  In July this year, the People’s Bank of China released the “White Paper on China's Digital RMB R&D Progress” that as of June 30, there were over 1.32 million digital RMB pilot scenarios, covering life payment, catering services, transportation, shopping and consumption, government services, etc. field.

More than 20.87 million personal wallets and 3.51 million public wallets were opened, and the total number of transactions was 70.75 million with an amount of approximately 34.5 billion yuan.

As of October, 140 million digital renminbi personal wallets and 10 million corporate wallets have been opened. The cumulative number of transactions reached 150 million, and the transaction volume was close to 62 billion yuan.

Currently, 1.55 million merchants support digital renminbi wallets, covering public utilities, catering services, transportation, shopping, and government affairs.

At the same time, the six state-owned banks of Industry, Agriculture, China, Construction, Communications and Postal Savings and two private banks of Internet Commercial Bank and WeBank have developed paper cards, video cards, fingerprint cards, earphone shells, and watches. China Telecom and China Mobile have also launched their own digital renminbi wallets.

  According to Yi Gang, Governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank will improve the design and use of the digital renminbi in a targeted manner based on the pilot situation.

The first is to refer to cash and bank account management ideas to establish a management model suitable for digital renminbi; the second is to continue to improve settlement efficiency, privacy protection, anti-counterfeiting and other functions; the third is to promote the interaction between digital renminbi and existing electronic payment tools to achieve security and Convenient and unification; the fourth is to improve the construction of the digital renminbi ecosystem and enhance the inclusiveness and availability of digital renminbi.

Conducive to protecting information security

  Mobile payment is developing rapidly all over the world.

In recent years, especially after the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, global electronic payments, especially mobile payments, have become more popular.

Public information shows that last year, China's mobile payment amount increased by nearly 25% year-on-year, and the penetration rate has reached 86%. It has provided strong support for the fight against the epidemic while facilitating the lives of residents.

  Yi Gang said that the current electronic payment tools are mainly provided by the private sector, and there may be risks such as market segmentation and privacy leakage. CBDC enables the central bank to continue to provide the public with credible and safe payment methods in the digital economy era.

The People's Bank of China began to study legal digital currency in 2014, and built China's first-generation central bank digital currency prototype in 2016. At the same time, it proposed basic features such as M0 positioning, two-tier operating system, and controllable anonymity.

Since 2017, the People's Bank of China has cooperated with commercial banks and Internet companies to jointly conduct digital RMB research and development.

The pilot program will start in 2019.

  Digital RMB is different from electronic payment tools such as WeChat and Alipay.

Liu Xiaoyu believes that, first of all, the legal attributes of the two are different.

The digital renminbi is the country’s legal currency and the highest level of security assets, while WeChat and Alipay are only payment tools for legal tender; the second is that the payment methods are different, and the digital renminbi has value characteristics and can transfer value without relying on bank accounts. , And supports offline transactions, with the feature of "payment as settlement", while WeChat and Alipay must rely on the bound bank account and network status before payment can be made; third, in terms of whether anonymous payment is supported, digital renminbi supports controllable Anonymity is conducive to protecting personal privacy and user information security, while WeChat and Alipay cannot truly realize anonymous payment.

  Liu Xiaoyu said that in terms of payment scenarios, digital renminbi takes into account both online and offline, covering areas such as wholesale and retail, catering, cultural and tourism, education and medical care, public transportation, government payment, tax collection, and subsidies.

After the digital renminbi is fully promoted in the future, the digital renminbi will be fully covered, including payment scenarios such as wealth management, credit card, and life payment.

  In addition, digital renminbi has the characteristics of loose coupling with bank accounts, payment and settlement, and low cost. The public who has not opened a bank account can also enjoy basic financial services through digital renminbi wallets.

At the same time, the digital renminbi wallet design is convenient for online and offline full-scenario applications to meet the differentiated needs of users with multiple subjects, multiple levels, multiple categories, and multiple forms, and avoid usage obstacles caused by the "digital divide".

It is expected that the future application scenarios of digital renminbi will fully surpass payment tools such as WeChat and Alipay.

Fundamentally different from Bitcoin

  Bitcoin, which has been repeatedly mentioned recently, is fundamentally different from the central bank's legal digital currency.

  According to Huang Zhen, a professor at the School of Law of the Central University of Finance and Economics, El Salvador, a small country in Central America, previously passed legislation to make Bitcoin the country's legal tender.

However, virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are not currencies, but "encrypted digital tokens" based on new technologies such as blockchain, which are fundamentally different from the "central bank digital currency" endorsed by national credit.

The transaction of Bitcoin poses a challenge to a country's legal tender.

  Liu Xiaoyu said that Bitcoin is a virtual currency produced in the form of P2P on the basis of blockchain technology.

Unlike most currencies, Bitcoin does not rely on specific currency institutions to issue. It is based on blockchain technology and is generated through a large number of calculations based on specific algorithms, which is the so-called "mining".

The total number of bitcoins is limited and scarce. The total number of the currency system is 21 million, and it is technically guaranteed that it cannot be increased.

  Huang Zhen said that the virtual currency represented by Bitcoin adopts blockchain and encryption technology, claiming "decentralization" and "complete anonymity", but there are limitations such as lack of value support, sharp price fluctuations, low transaction efficiency, and huge energy consumption. , Making it difficult to perform currency functions in daily economic activities.

At present, many countries around the world are currently confining and suppressing blockchain-based encrypted digital tokens such as Bitcoin, while accelerating the study of central bank digital currencies backed by national credit.

  According to Yi Gang, currently, more than 110 countries have carried out CBDC-related work to varying degrees.

For China, the research and development of the digital renminbi is mainly to meet the domestic retail payment needs, improve the development level of inclusive finance, and improve the operating efficiency of the currency and payment system.

  At the same time, the Chinese government took decisive actions against illegal transactions such as Bitcoin.

Huang Zhen said that the Financial Stability Committee of the State Council requires cracking down on Bitcoin mining and trading, and resolutely prevent individual risks from being transmitted to the social field.

  In fact, as early as 2017, my country began to crack down on virtual currencies such as Bitcoin.

According to Liu Xiaoyu, in September 2017, the People’s Bank of China and other 7 departments emphasized in the "Announcement on Preventing Token Issuance Financing Risks" that financing entities raised Bitcoin, Ether, etc. from investors through the illegal sale and circulation of tokens. The so-called "virtual currency" is essentially an illegal public financing behavior without approval.

The above announcement characterizes Bitcoin and Ethereum as "virtual currency"; it also points out that "virtual currency" is not issued by the monetary authority, and does not have the attributes of "currency" such as indemnity and compulsion, and excludes "virtual currency" as "currency" "Legal attributes."