"Tasting the first" digital RMB security and convenience are the primary prerequisites

[[407805]]

Our reporter Sun Zhao

After learning that Beijing had launched a digital RMB pilot program, Xiao Liu (pseudonym) submitted an application on the ICBC APP with a try-it-out mentality, and successfully became one of the "lucky fish". "I have already 'squandered' the 200 yuan digital RMB red envelope, and I feel it is still very convenient to use." Xiao Liu (pseudonym) told a reporter from China Economic Times.

With the orderly expansion of the pilot scope, the digital RMB has attracted widespread attention from the society. How is the digital RMB different from Alipay and WeChat Pay? How does the digital RMB affect you and me? Will paper money disappear after the use of digital RMB? In response to the above questions, our reporter interviewed many industry insiders.

Convenient and fast, can be used without Internet

The digital RMB is a legal digital currency issued by the People's Bank of China. Compared with traditional paper money, the digital RMB can be said to be money that can be seen but not touched.

"Koi" Xiao Liu told reporters that there is a "View Event Merchants" option at the bottom of the event registration page, which lists all specific merchants in Beijing that support this event. They are divided into multiple categories such as transportation, catering and accommodation, shopping and consumption, with a total of nearly 2,000 merchants. In Xiao Liu's view, the current pilot merchants can basically meet the needs of consumers, and in the future, the scope of application of the digital RMB will definitely be expanded.

According to the "Digital RMB Survey" recently conducted by China Economic Times, among the 507 valid questionnaires collected, 377 people (accounting for 72.6%) have never used digital RMB, but they said they would be willing to use it if they have the opportunity. What is the difference between digital RMB and WeChat, Alipay, etc.?

Liu Dian, associate researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told China Economic Times that the digital RMB is a digital RMB cash issued by the central bank, which is backed by the national credit. WeChat and Alipay are means of payment, which correspond to different Internet platform companies. "Compared with these two payment platforms, the advantages of the digital RMB are not only in the daily experience level, but more importantly, its security and the entire digital financial ecosystem that can be built in the future based on sovereign credit and central bank endorsement." Liu Dian said.

Macro analyst Zhou Maohua said in an interview with our reporter that the digital RMB is essentially a digital form of RMB, replacing RMB cash (M0), while Alipay and WeChat are important infrastructures for financial transaction payments, and there is an essential difference between the two. When performing payment functions, the digital RMB has a more complete payment system and payment environment than WeChat and Alipay, and the payment method is more efficient and convenient. At the same time, in an environment without the Internet, the digital RMB can still achieve "dual offline payment".

Yang Delin, a senior researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute, told our reporter that the core and most valuable advantages of the digital RMB are mainly two points. First, the digital advantage. Reducing the issuance cost is conducive to the precise implementation of supervision and monetary policy. Second, the monetary advantage. Reducing transaction costs and reducing payment barriers will help the public obtain high-quality, low-cost inclusive financial services. At the same time, it will also play a very critical role in the international circulation of the RMB, and its value and significance are far-reaching.

Protecting property safety is the primary premise

As early as 2014, the central bank began to study the digital currency issuance framework, key technologies and other issues. In August 2019, the central bank clearly stated that "accelerating the pace of research and development of my country's legal digital currency" is one of the key tasks in the second half of 2019. In 2020 and 2021, major cities have successively piloted digital RMB. Although there is still a certain distance from the use of the whole people, my country's digital RMB is in an orderly development. In real life, what aspects should be paid attention to in promoting digital RMB?

Liu Dian said that in promoting the digital RMB, the following issues should be noted. First, the issue of user information and privacy during use, which is also of great concern to the society. In this regard, the central bank has adopted highly secure technical means to solve it. For example, the digital RMB supports controllable anonymity, which greatly improves payment security and enhances the security protection of personal privacy. Second, ensure the security of user assets.

Zhou Maohua said that the premise for the widespread use of digital RMB is that it is safer and more convenient to use this transaction settlement method, and more importantly, people should correctly understand what digital RMB is and what advantages it has. At the same time, it is necessary to continuously expand application scenarios.

How to cultivate users' habit of using digital RMB? Zhou Maohua said that similar to cash use, it is necessary to guard against phishing links and fraudulent information, be alert to the risk of personal information leakage, guard against digital RMB "counterfeit currency" and other issues, and develop the habit of paying attention to account information regularly or irregularly.

Liu Dian said that the cultivation of Internet usage habits lies in whether the people can benefit from the early use of digital RMB. When the people can get more benefits, the digital RMB will be able to quickly expand related application scenarios. For merchants and related corporate entities, they can also obtain more consumers. This is actually a win-win process for all parties. At the same time, it is also constantly optimizing the business ecology of the digital economy.

An Guangyong, a researcher at the Credit Management Committee of the All-China Mergers and Acquisitions Association, told our reporter that the digital RMB will have an impact on macro areas (institutions), such as cross-border trade, foreign trade, and transactions between large financial institutions. From the government level, the current digital RMB does not require too much promotion. Consumers have already experienced the "baptism" of Internet products such as WeChat and Alipay, and these Internet products have also indirectly saved the government promotion costs.

Digital RMB may coexist with paper currency for a long time

With the acceleration of the promotion of digital RMB and the continuous increase in pilot cities, digital RMB will gradually become popular. Will paper money disappear? According to the survey, 335 survey participants (accounting for 67.3%) said that they can accept the partial replacement of paper money by digital RMB, but still hope to keep paper money.

Mu Changchun, director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, previously stated that the issuance of digital RMB is determined by market demand. If the market needs more, more will be issued, and if the market needs less, less will be issued. The same is true for paper money. Corresponding paper money will be issued according to market demand, so that the market can form a balance between paper money and digital RMB.

Regarding the future development of the digital RMB, Liu Dian said: "In the long run, the digital RMB will be beneficial to the construction of related systems such as cross-border payment and settlement of RMB to a certain extent, but whether the internationalization of RMB will have great development in the future is still affected by many factors. Therefore, although the digital RMB has brought many development opportunities, we must still be cautious about the international development expectations that may be brought about by the digitalization of RMB." Liu Dian said.

Zhou Maohua said that in the future, digital RMB will develop in a safer, more inclusive, more convenient and low-cost direction. Digital RMB not only covers the scope of use, functions and advantages of paper cash, but will also coexist with paper cash for a long time. In addition, with the development of digital information technology, digital RMB payment will be safer, more efficient, more inclusive and more convenient.