Zhongxin Jingwei Client August 20th (Wei Wei) Imagine this scenario. Each of us has a digital currency wallet on his mobile phone. Even if the mobile phone is disconnected, you can transfer your digital currency to another person by touching two mobile phones. This scene may be getting closer and closer to us.
In fact, the People’s Bank of China set up a special research group to study the statutory digital currency as early as 2014, and it has been six years since then. Recently, the Ministry of Commerce issued a document saying that a pilot project of digital RMB will be launched, which also rekindled the reverie of digital currency.
What is digital RMB?
Digital currency, the central bank, is not complicated in concept. Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Xinwang Bank, told Zhongxin Jingwei client that digital currency refers to the digital currency issued by the central bank in parallel with cash, which is the digital form of legal tender. Digital currency (DC/EP), China’s central bank, is simply an electronic version of RMB, which is digital RMB cash.
Insiders revealed that in recent days, the four major banks of workers, peasants and China Construction Co., Ltd. simultaneously tested the "digital RMB" e-wallet. Considering the system load and other reasons, it is still in the internal testing stage.
Agricultural Bank of China Digital RMB Wallet Source: Zhongxin Jingwei Wei Wei Photo
On April 17th this year, the digital currency Research Institute of the Central Bank said that the digital RMB would be tested in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong ‘an, Chengdu and the future Winter Olympics in order to continuously optimize and improve its functions.
In July, Didi Chuxing said that it had reached a strategic cooperation with the digital currency Research Institute of the Central Bank to jointly study and explore the scene innovation and application of digital RMB in the field of smart travel. On August 17th, the Zhongxin Jingwei client asked Didi Chuxing about the exploration of scene application, and its reply said that there was no news to disclose for the time being, and further news would be released.
On August 14th, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Overall Plan for Comprehensively Deepening the Innovation and Development of Service Trade", which announced the pilot areas of digital RMB, and some people understood it as the pilot of digital RMB may be expanded. However, in fact, the current pilot scope of digital RMB is still Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou, xiong’an new area and the future Winter Olympics, and it has not changed.
However, the news came out that the digital currency plate in the capital market is still sought after by investors. According to Wind data, the digital currency index rose by 2.81% on August 14th, rose by 3.35% again on August 17th, and continued to rise by 1.07% on August 18th, which has been rising for three consecutive days, which shows that the market is enthusiastic about digital currency concept.
How to apply five conjectures in the future
The application of digital RMB has also caused many conjectures. Where can I exchange it? How to apply it in the future? The Zhongxin Jingwei client interviewed a number of insiders to answer questions.
Conjecture 1: Is the carrier an APP?
Usually, residents can exchange paper money in commercial banks, so where can they exchange digital RMB?
According to the internal measurement maps of ICBC, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank and China Bank’s digital currency wallets circulated on the Internet earlier, the four major banks are all testing the application of digital wallets.
"digital currency is still in the testing stage. What is certain is that digital currency does not launch an APP. Maybe each bank will launch a separate APP, or it will be integrated into the apps of various cooperative banks." Bi Tong, co-founder of financial technology consulting firm PANONY, told Zhongxin Jingwei client.
"Launching an APP separately has higher user education costs and usage costs, and pilot commercial banks may embed services in existing apps." Yang Wang, Dean of Hande Institute of Financial Technology and Senior Research Fellow of China Renmin University, told Zhongxin Jingwei client.
Guess 2: Do I need to go to the bank to exchange money? Can I redeem it in the APP?
From the functional point of view, the functions of digital RMB wallets in various banks are basically the same. For example, China Construction Bank includes "Sweep", "Collection", "Payment Code" and "Transfer", and users can exchange money into digital RMB through bank accounts. Bank of China includes "recharge", "withdrawal", "transfer" and "bank card". The page of Agricultural Bank includes "scan code payment", "remittance", "receipt and payment" and "touch".
"From the circulated internal test pictures, the main functions displayed are basically similar to the daily functions of bank electronic accounts." Dong Ximiao said.
In Yang Wang’s vision, it takes three steps to use digital RMB. The first step is to download a corresponding mobile APP；; The second step is to register, enter personal name, ID number, mobile phone number and other information, and the relevant personal credit inquiry authorization will be displayed on the APP, which requires the user to choose to agree or reject; The third step is to bind the bank account, and then the user can exchange the bank deposit for digital RMB 1:1.
Ceng Gang, deputy director of the National Finance and Development Laboratory, predicts that there will be two accounts in the future, one is a digital RMB account, and the other is an account derived from the deposit in a bank account, and the two are in 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 payment.
In terms of experience, Yang Wang believes that the digital RMB wallet is similar to the third-party payment with high public acceptance, and can also support QR code payment, fingerprint payment and face payment. However, the above payment methods may not be all online at once. Considering technical problems, QR code payment may be online first, and then other payment methods will be online gradually.
Guess 3: Can two mobile phones "touch" money to transfer money successfully?
"As long as you and I have a DC/EP digital wallet on our mobile phones, we don’t even need a network. As long as the mobile phones have electricity and two mobile phones touch each other, we can transfer digital currency in one person’s digital wallet to another person," Mu Changchun, director of the digital currency Institute of China People’s Bank, once said in an online open class.
Yang Wang said that a major feature of digital currency, the central bank, is dual offline payment, that is, mutual transfer can be realized without network signals.
"Of course, it’s not that the money is transferred when touched," Yang Wang explained. This function is similar to confidential payment. Users need to sign an agreement with the bank before they can use this function. Every time they enter the transfer scene, there will be a button to confirm the payment, and they can only transfer the money after clicking agree. At the same time, this function may stipulate an upper limit, and once a certain threshold is triggered, they will not be able to transfer money, so as to ensure the security of the user account.
In terms of security, Bi Tongtong said that some insiders also pointed out that the patents disclosed at present have not explained how to solve the "double flower problem" in the case of double offline (note: a sum of money is spent twice), which requires more technical patent disclosure. However, this problem can also be prevented by legal means, and the payment can be made after it happens.
Guess 4: Which scenarios can be paid in digital RMB?
Users are more concerned about the scenarios in which they can use digital RMB. Yang Wang introduced that in addition to recharging and withdrawing cash, digital RMB can also be used for transfer between users and consumption.
According to Yang Wang, the application scenarios currently supported in the pilot stage include retail, catering, transportation card recharge, etc. With the maturity of pilot applications in the future, the application scenarios will be expanded in a wider scope.
Recently, the media reported that Julu County, Hebei Province has applied to digital currency, the central bank, for subsidies such as environmental protection. The relevant person in charge of Lezhi Technology Co., Ltd. introduced that the company jointly developed the "Falling in Love with Julu County, Hebei Province" APP, and the poverty alleviation subsidies of local residents in the future will be distributed in the form of digital RMB, and residents can realize fund withdrawal, transfer and consumption in the APP wallet, such as paying party fees, buying train tickets, charging telephone bills and other convenient services can be settled in digital RMB.
The company is also cooperating with commercial banks. In the future, residents can pay the digital RMB to the bank and convert it into an equal amount of RMB cash, which can be converted into electronic accounts of commercial banks or converted into paper RMB 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 separately after subsequent debugging.
Guess 5: Will Alipay and WeChat transfer money to each other in the future?
At present, for most residents, they are used to using third-party payment such as Alipay and WeChat. Will digital RMB shake the status of third-party payment in the future?
Bi Tongtong believes that the biggest difference between the central bank’s digital RMB and Alipay and WeChat payment lies in the difference in legal rights. The central bank’s digital currency is endorsed by the state, which is equivalent to legal tender. However, the assets of ordinary people in third-party payment are actually a bookkeeping, which is based on commercial bank settlement. Whether digital currency, the central bank, will attack the market position of WeChat and Alipay is a process determined by the market, which depends on the convenience of use, commercial value and economic scale.
With the introduction of digital RMB, can mutual transfer between Alipay and WeChat be realized in the future? Yang Wang believes that this matter mainly considers two aspects: willingness and ability. Digital RMB is the legal digital currency issued by the People’s Bank of China based on national credit, which means that any transaction scenario must be unconditionally accepted, and the transfer function should be supported between commercial banks and third-party payment. In terms of willingness, the problem of digital RMB transfer between commercial banks is not big, but there are business barriers in third-party payment. Different platforms may be protecting their own business ecology and will not realize mutual transfer for the time being, nor does it rule out that this function will be realized in the future. (Zhongxin Jingwei APP)
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