Since the beginning of 2024, the pilot work of digital RMB has continued to achieve new results. On January 29, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that many "first" results have been released in various pilot areas recently, including the use of digital renminbi to collect raised funds, repay credit cards, etc., involving multiple scenarios on the B-side and C-side. .
Up to now, the scope of digital RMB pilot projects has been expanded to 26 pilot areas in 17 provinces and cities, and the pilot work in each pilot area has also achieved positive results. According to analysts, the digital renminbi pilot program in 2024 will be further enriched in the diversification of scenarios, the coverage will continue to expand, and the related functions of digital renminbi soft and hard wallets will also be more diversified.
Scene expansion
The digital renminbi pilot program is advancing in an orderly manner, and new results have been released one after another. Shandong Hi-Speed Group recently issued "Shandong Hi-Speed Group Co., Ltd.'s public issuance of technological innovation renewable corporate bonds (first phase) to professional investors in 2024" with an issuance scale of 2.5 billion yuan. In this bond issuance, digital renminbi is efficient, safe and convenient, and for the first time, funds raised in the form of digital renminbi have been collected.
At the same time, Shandong Hi-Speed Group also mentioned that it will actively explore the application scenarios of digital renminbi and give full play to the advantages of digital renminbi.
In Mingshui Ancient City, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, the Mingshui Ancient City digital RMB hard wallet was officially unveiled recently. Users only need to use the "post one post" function on the Digital RMB App to activate the hardware wallet to easily achieve a safe and convenient new consumption experience. This is also the first time Jinan City has issued a digital RMB hardware wallet since the city’s digital RMB pilot was approved in December 2022.
Scenarios also targeting C-end consumers and related to hard wallets have also been implemented in Suzhou. Suzhou Huangqiao Future Factory Industrial Park is the first digital currency pilot demonstration industrial park in Suzhou. The hard wallets of the residents in the park can be directly used as salary cards after being linked to the digital RMB App. This is the country's first "one card universal" digital currency. Hard wallet application scenarios. The digital RMB hard wallet can meet the various needs of relevant personnel for consumption in the park, clocking in and out, access control, elevator control and other needs.
In addition, Minsheng Bank recently launched the innovative application of digital RMB fund sales and redemption transaction scenarios for the first time, and added a new digital RMB purchase accumulation service, further enriching the application scenarios. Subsequently, Minsheng Bank further simultaneously launched the digital RMB credit card repayment function on its mobile banking App and National Life App. Cardholders only need to add their own digital RMB real-name wallet on the corresponding App, and then they can choose to use digital RMB to repay their credit cards.
One after another "first" results are released one after another, behind which is the progress of digital renminbi pilots that continue to expand into new scenarios. Financial technology expert Su Xiaorui said that the current digital renminbi pilot is progressing well. Based on the work accumulated in the early stage, it has achieved relatively outstanding results in terms of application scenario expansion, number of wallets opened, and wallet transaction scale. In addition, , the digital renminbi ecosystem continues to expand, and market entities from different industries such as financial institutions, physical enterprises, and Internet companies have begun exploring the application of digital renminbi, pushing the digital renminbi pilot project in a broader direction.
In addition, according to Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of the International Joint Business School of Zhejiang University, digital renminbi still needs to further expand application scenarios. State-owned enterprises such as Shandong Hi-Speed Group will increase the application of digital renminbi, which will be beneficial to Forming a demonstration effect and providing more support from enterprises can drive the popularity of digital renminbi. The expansion of consumption scenarios is conducive to the application of digital renminbi among C-end consumers and enhances user stickiness.
orderly development
“I don’t know when the pilot scope of digital renminbi will be expanded. Hubei can’t use it yet.” “I really look forward to its full application, so that we can also experience the fun of paying with just a touch.”… With the digital renminbi in the past two years, The RMB pilot continues to advance, and consumers' attention to digital RMB continues to increase. Many consumers have expressed such thoughts on public social platforms.
Up to now, the digital RMB pilot scope has been extended to 26 pilot areas in 17 provinces and cities, including Shenzhen City, Suzhou City, Shanghai City, Hainan Province, Changsha City, Dalian City, as well as Jinan in Shandong, Nanning and Fangchenggang in Guangxi, Kunming in Yunnan and Xishuangbanna etc. Recently, various pilot regions have also successively handed over their digital renminbi report cards for 2023, and at the same time made plans for the development of digital renminbi in 2024.
For example, the Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China recently disclosed that throughout 2023, Shenzhen's digital renminbi applications will achieve three major goals: from "early adopters" to "commonly used", from "payment" to "intelligent payment", and from "products" to "industries". change. As of the end of 2023, a total of 37.3393 million digital RMB wallets have been opened in Shenzhen, an increase of 36.2% from the beginning of the year; the cumulative circulation amount is 84.034 billion yuan, an increase of 123% from the beginning of the year.
As of the end of December 2023, Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province had 86,400 merchant stores with digital RMB applications, 812,000 digital RMB personal wallets, 52,300 corporate wallets, and a total of 1.2905 million transactions, with a transaction amount of Reaching 14.39 billion yuan.
The next stage of digital RMB development is also being laid out in an orderly manner under the leadership of top-level design. Judging from the information disclosed by various regions, the main plan is to develop digital renminbi based on the actual industrial characteristics of the jurisdiction. Shenzhen continues to explore the application of digital renminbi in cross-border payment scenarios by trialling a digital renminbi "hard wallet" that is interconnected with Hong Kong's Octopus to facilitate Hong Kong people's use of mobile payment services in the mainland.
On January 24, the People's Bank of China revealed in a press release from the State Council Information Office that the People's Bank of China and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority decided to launch six financial measures, including "deepening the cross-border pilot program of digital renminbi to provide financial services for Hong Kong and mainland residents." Bringing more convenience to enterprises” to further optimize financial services and strengthen financial cooperation.
A Beijing Business Daily reporter learned that under the guidance of the People's Bank of China, the Digital Currency Research Institute and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority launched a digital renminbi cross-border payment pilot project at the end of 2020. Based on preliminary testing and verification, the two parties will further deepen the pilot project in 2024 cooperate. The cooperation content will mainly focus on three aspects: supporting more institutions to participate in the pilot, broadening service subjects and scenarios, and strengthening the construction of acceptance environments in the two places. It will provide products, services and user experiences that are more in line with the habits of Hong Kong residents, and promote the line in the two places in an orderly manner. Open the digital RMB payment method on the platform.
When talking about the new stage of development of digital renminbi, cross-border payment is also one of the scenarios worth looking forward to. Pan Helin pointed out that my country's opening up to the outside world is accelerating, the number of countries that exempt each other from visas is increasing, and more and more overseas people are visiting and traveling in China. There is an urgent need for convenient payment tools to solve consumption problems after coming to China, and digital renminbi is a good starting point to help improve consumption convenience and availability.
Su Xiaorui believes that the digital renminbi pilot in 2024 will be further enriched in the diversification of scenarios, and the coverage will continue to expand, especially scenarios in corporate, cross-border and other fields are worth looking forward to. On the other hand, the functions related to digital RMB soft and hard wallets will also be more diversified. For example, the digital RMB App will continue to optimize its layout and add more functions. Hard wallets are also expected to appear in various forms, with more "black technologies" embedded in them. , to play a greater role in inclusive finance and other aspects.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Liao Meng