The Central Bank: The current development focus of the digital renminbi is to promote domestic use

On April 18, the Boao Forum for Asia 2021 Annual Conference held a sub-forum on "Digital Payment and Digital Currency". Zhou Xiaochuan, Vice Chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia and former Governor of the People's Bank of China, and Li Bo, the new Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, attended and discussed the digital RMB. Respond to hot issues such as digital currency interoperability among central banks of multiple countries and encrypted asset supervision.

At the meeting, Zhou Xiaochuan and Li Bo both emphasized that the original intention of the launch of the digital renminbi is to serve the country and will focus on the domestic market. Zhou Xiaochuan said that China's digital currency is not for cross-border, but for the development of technology, especially after the popularization of mobile Internet, it can provide payment for the public more conveniently.

European Central Bank: Some key principles of the digital euro have been clarified, including privacy protection, etc.: According to news on July 13, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Executive Committee member Fabio Panetta jointly wrote "The Main Goals of the Digital Euro" and stated that it is expected that in 2023 With the investigative phase of the digital euro project completed in the autumn, it is too early to decide on the details of the design, but some key principles are clear. First, a digital euro must respond to the needs of its users. Second, a digital euro should also benefit those who have hitherto been unable to use digital payments, thereby supporting financial inclusion. Third, privacy protection must meet the highest standards. There are also some pitfalls to be aware of. The digital euro is intended to be a means of payment, not a form of investment. [2022/7/14 2:11:29]

"China has a very large retail market with 1.4 billion people. Everyone hopes to have a more convenient, more effective, and lower-cost payment system. At the very beginning, the central bank never thought about whether it needed a wholesale system or RMB Internationalization, but start from the retail system." Zhou Xiaochuan said.

Bank of France: Wholesale CBDC will facilitate cross-border and cross-currency payments: Jinse Finance reported that the Bank of France published an optimistic report on a series of experiments with its wholesale CBDC, but also found some new problems. It is reported that the Bank of France started its wholesale CBDC program last year, working with private banks and technology companies and other public institutions to conduct nine experiments, seven of which have been completed. The bank said the experiments demonstrated how a CBDC could be used for wholesale payments, including cross-border and cross-currency payments and securities settlements. The experiments also tested several ways in which central banks could maintain control over central bank money on DLT, in particular through the ability to leverage blockchain for programmable functions. Nathalie Aufauvre, head of the pilot program, said: "With the advent of tokenized financial assets, we have demonstrated that CBDCs, combined with the potential of new technologies, can contribute to the secure development of these innovations by ensuring the secure settlement of transactions in these assets. ... We also demonstrated that a wholesale CBDC would be beneficial for cross-border and cross-currency payments, as it would increase the efficiency of the processing chain.” However, the bank said the experiments also raised a number of questions, not the least of which was whether the issuance could How a wholesale CBDC available to a large number of market participants could affect the role of financial intermediaries and the transmission of monetary policy. [2021/11/9 6:39:49]

Li Bo also said that the current development focus of the digital renminbi is to promote its domestic use. RMB internationalization is a natural process. Our goal is not to replace the US dollar or other currencies, but to allow the market to make a choice to further facilitate international trade and investment.

The central bank: the management method of bitcoin transaction reported on the Internet is not true: the Financial Associated Press reported on the 26th that on the 25th, it was rumored that the central bank, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security had jointly issued the "Interim Measures for the Management of Bitcoin Transaction Activities (Draft for Comment)", requiring the establishment of Bitcoin transaction information intermediaries should be filed with the People's Bank of China. At the same time, they need to establish third-party depository services for client funds and Bitcoin, and select qualified banking financial institutions or third-party payment institutions as depositors for client funds and Bitcoin. Management agency. Relevant people from the central bank said that the above report is not true, and the central bank has not issued this document. (Beijing News) [2017/8/28]

Talking about the characteristics of the digital renminbi, Li Bo said that the digital renminbi adopts a two-tier system design, which can be compatible with the current currency and banking system to ensure that the risk of financial desensitization is minimized. At the same time, digital renminbi can achieve controllable anonymity, anonymization of small transactions, and tracking of large transactions by the central bank. This design is also an ideal feature of digital renminbi. In addition, the digital renminbi is trying a hybrid system that links the digital renminbi to the bank account system and the quasi-bank account system. This will be a fairly open system.

In terms of the progress of the digital renminbi pilot, Li Bo revealed that the digital renminbi pilot is very successful, but there is no timetable for the official launch of the digital renminbi. Before the digital renminbi is officially promoted nationwide, the central bank will do a good job in the following three aspects: first, do a good job in pilot projects and expand the scope of pilot projects; second, further improve the digital renminbi infrastructure, including the ecosystem, and further enhance the security of the system and reliability; the third is to establish relevant legal and regulatory frameworks to supervise the use of digital renminbi.

In addition, when it comes to the supervision of Bitcoin and stablecoins, Li Bo said that Bitcoin is an encrypted asset and an investment option, and it is not a currency itself. Since it is an investment tool, many countries, including China, are studying what kind of regulatory environment should apply to this investment method, and to ensure that such assets will not cause serious financial risks. At the same time, if encrypted assets such as stablecoins are to become a widely used payment solution, a stronger regulatory rule is required, that is, stricter regulatory rules than Bitcoin is currently accepted.

"For stablecoins issued by private companies, if they become a payment tool in the future, they must be subject to the same strict supervision as banks or quasi-banking financial institutions." Li Bo said.

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