In the past, digital RMB required an appointment. You can use red envelopes with different amounts after winning the prize. But because it is in the testing stage, it can only be used in designated businesses.
Digital RMB, abbreviated as "e-CNY" according to international usage practice, is a legal tender in digital form issued by the People's Bank of China, operated by designated operating institutions and exchanged by the public. Based on the generalized account system, it supports the loose coupling function of bank accounts, which is equivalent to paper money and coins, has value characteristics and legal compensation, and supports controllable anonymity.
The concept of digital RMB has two key points. One is that digital RMB is legal tender in digital form; Another point is that it is equivalent to paper money and coins. Digital RMB is mainly located in M0, that is, cash and coins in circulation. Mainly positioned as cash payment voucher (M0), which will coexist with physical RMB for a long time, and is mainly used to meet the public's demand for digital cash and help inclusive finance.
At present, the R&D experiment has basically completed the top-level design, functional research and development, system debugging and other work, and is following the principles of stability, safety, controllability, innovation and practicality, and selecting some representative areas to carry out pilot tests.
Compared with virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, digital RMB is legal tender, equivalent to legal tender, and has the highest effectiveness and security. Bitcoin is a virtual asset, which has no value basis, does not enjoy any sovereign credit guarantee, and cannot guarantee the stability of its value. This is the most fundamental difference between digital currency, the central bank and bitcoin.
Digital RMB adopts a two-tier operation system. That is, the People's Bank of China does not directly issue and exchange the central bank's digital currency to the public, but first exchanges the digital RMB to designated operating institutions, such as commercial banks or other commercial institutions, and then these institutions exchange it to the public.
Operating institutions need to pay 100% reserve to the People's Bank of China, which is the conversion process of 1: 1 This two-tier operating system is basically the same as issuing paper money, so it will not have a big impact on the existing financial system, nor will it have a big impact on the real economy or financial stability.
Under the current digital currency system, anything that can form a unique personal identity can become an account. For example, the license plate number can be a sub-wallet of digital RMB, which can be paid through expressway or when parking. This is the concept of generalized account system.
Supporting loose coupling of bank accounts means that digital RMB wallets can be opened without bank accounts. For some people in rural or remote mountainous areas, overseas tourists coming to China, etc. People who are unable or inconvenient to hold bank accounts can also enjoy the corresponding financial services through digital wallets, which will help realize inclusive finance.