Digital RMB, more application scenarios are worth looking forward to

【expert interview】

A few days ago, Suzhou City proposed to promote the pilot application of digital RMB in the city and the entire field, and transform the pilot advantage into the development advantage of the development of the digital financial industry innovation cluster. As of the end of August, Suzhou has opened 303 million digital RMB personal wallets, and the core indicators of digital RMB pilots have led pilot cities.

Recently, digital RMB has accelerated the pace of scene innovation, and promotion has been accelerating. How will the digital RMB effectively solve the "pain point" of consumption in the future? How to dig deep into application scenarios? The reporter interviewed Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Zhailian Financial.

Reporter: From the pilot of multiple cities to the application of the Winter Olympics and the service and trade association, what role does digital RMB play a role in further meeting the diversified payment needs of the people?

Dong Ximiao: From 2014, he started research and development to form a pilot pattern of multiple regions. Digital RMB has gradually become a momentum, and gradually "fly into the home of ordinary people." As of May 31, 2022, 23 pilot areas of 15 provinces and cities passed the cumulative number of trading pens through digital RMB, about 264 million, with a amount of about 83 billion yuan, and the number of merchant stores that supported digital RMB payment reached 4.567 million. At present, Digital RMB has supported offline and online scenes, covering multiple fields such as living payment, catering services, transportation, shopping consumption, government services, etc., "payment is liquidation", not charged to users, digital RMB provides the people with safety for the people. , Convenient payment for new options. With the help of the Beijing Winter Olympics and service trade, digital RMB has moved from domestic scenarios to international occasions. The pilot application areas have further expanded, and they have played a more active role in serving the real economy and convenient people's livelihood. Important infrastructure.

Reporter: What are the unique advantages of digital RMB compared with other payment methods?

Dong Ximiao: Digital RMB is both an electronic payment tool and a statutory of digitalization. It will reconstruct my country's payment and currency system, so that electronic payment is more versatile and convenient, and cash use is more available and inclusive. Compared with other electronic payment instruments and virtual currencies, the digital RMB is issued by the central bank. The security is higher, the amount of information is small, and the user's privacy and information security will be used to the greatest extent. In addition, digital RMB can break the barriers of the payment industry, achieve circulation between the supported banks and payment tools, and cannot transfer between Alipay and WeChat. Therefore, the three prominent characteristics of digital RMB are legal, generality, and inclusiveness, which are of great significance in facilitating people's livelihood, reducing transaction costs, and improving economic efficiency.

Reporter: Since the start of the digital RMB pilot, a large number of application models covering online and offline have been formed. But in daily life, we see that the use of digital RMB is not very common. What do you think is the factors that hinder the further expansion of digital RMB acceptance environment and application scenarios?

Dong Ximiao: It should be said that digital RMB has not yet officially issued or even large -scale applications. The advantage of residents to perceive and understand digital RMB still takes time. First of all, digital RMB is still in the pilot application stage, and the pilot areas are relatively limited. It is recommended to expand the pilot of digital RMB in an orderly manner, and incorporate more areas into the pilot scope, which helps to better test the performance of the digital RMB system. A few days ago, the relevant person in charge of the central bank said that the first four pilot cities digital RMB applications will be expanded to the province. Secondly, the construction of digital RMB application scenarios should be accelerated. As a digital RMB operating agency, 10 commercial banks should also increase online and offline merchant expansion. The Internet platform should quickly integrate into the digital RMB ecology with a more open and inclusive attitude. Thirdly, related pilot areas must also carry out promotion activities. Various public services should actively support digital RMB, and build a better monetary and financial environment with pilots.

Reporter: In the future, how to promote the standardized construction of the digital RMB system, and realize the interconnection of the digital RMB system and traditional electronic payment tools?

Dong Ximiao: Promote the interaction between digital RMB and existing electronic payment instruments, and achieve a unity of safety and convenience. It is not only the actual needs of maintaining the statutory status of digital RMB and enriching the application scenario of digital RMB, but also the deserved meaning of interconnection in the payment field. The interconnection of the payment field requires both institutional norms and standards. It also involves balanced interests and scenario integration. It is also related to user privacy and data security. But the interconnection in the payment field is imperative. The current key measures are the unified and standardized standards of standards. In September 2019, the central bank proposed "the Fintech Development Plan (2019-2021)" in the Fintech (2019-2021 ". In the next step, the standardization construction of the digital RMB system should be accelerated from multiple dimensions, and the unity of norms such as digital identity, newsletter specifications, QR code systems, Bluetooth and NFCs is further promoted. The tools and merchant payment logos are scanned and mutually scanned, making consumers more conveniently "scan", allowing merchants to more conveniently support various payment tools.

Reporter: The Institute of Digital Currency of the People's Bank of China recently released the digital RMB smart contract prepayment fund management product- "Yuan Butler". In the future, what are the areas of digital RMB in the field of smart contracts? What changes will it bring to the lives of the people?

Dong Ximiao: The official release of the "Yuan Butler" is another measure to accelerate the innovation of digital RMB pilot innovation, indicating that the application of digital RMB smart contracts is accelerating. There are reasons to believe that in the future, my country will further explore the application of digital RMB smart contracts, expand the potential of digital renminbi innovation, and enrich the application scenarios of digital RMB; , Enhance residents 'experience and better protect consumers' legitimate rights and interests. Digital RMB smart contract technology will implant specific digital currency in instructions. It has the characteristics of transparent, credible, automatic execution, and mandatory payment. It can support digital RMB to better adapt to different transaction scenarios and meet the diverse needs of both parties in the transaction. Therefore, smart contract technology can be effectively applied to the conditions such as the conditional payment of digital RMB, giving digital RMB programming characteristics, and improving innovation and expansion capabilities. The application of digital RMB intelligent contract technology, through the setting of payment restrictions on specific digital RMB setting, including but not limited to specific scenarios, payment conditions, payment amounts, etc., use technical means to eliminate the possibility of misappropriation of prepaid card funds, which will help from the source. Prevent transaction risks and protect consumers' legitimate rights and interests from infringement. In addition to the prepaid card, digital RMB intelligent contract technology can also be widely used in educational training, real estate transactions, housing leasing, subsidy distribution, shared bicycle and other scenarios.

(Reporter Wen Yuan)

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