Overview of the Upgrade

Recently, the People's Bank of China released the "Action Plan for Further Strengthening the Management Service System of Digital Renminbi and Related Financial Infrastructure Construction," providing a top-level design blueprint for the systematic operation of digital renminbi from pilot exploration. According to reports from several authoritative media outlets, the action plan clearly states that starting from January 1, 2026, the new generation of digital renminbi measurement framework, management system, operational mechanism, and ecological system will be simultaneously launched, marking the transition of the management model of digital renminbi from "project-based pilot" to "institutionalized regular operation." The China Financial News pointed out that this action plan "marks the entry of digital renminbi into a new generation of systematic management and infrastructure stage." TechFlowDaily, citing interpretations from Caixin, also emphasized the importance of this timeline, indicating that digital renminbi will be incorporated into a more complete framework of regulation, statistics, and infrastructure collaboration, laying a systematic foundation for subsequent large-scale promotion and broader scenario coverage.

Policy Framework

From publicly available information, this action plan mainly focuses on four major areas: measurement framework, management system, operational mechanism, and ecological system. In terms of the measurement framework, the central bank aims to establish a statistical and measurement system covering the entire lifecycle of issuance, circulation, and use, to enable unified monitoring and assessment of the scale, structure, and flow of digital renminbi; regarding the management system, it will gradually form an institutional framework covering access, operation, risk management, consumer protection, and other aspects based on existing pilot rules. Lu Lei, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, emphasized in an article in the China Financial News the need to strengthen macro-prudential management and micro-prudential supervision of digital renminbi operations through the improvement of management service systems and related financial infrastructure construction, achieving the policy goal of "both development and safety." From the central bank's perspective, the regulatory logic of "strengthening management service systems and financial infrastructure construction" lies in incorporating digital renminbi into the macro-statistical, monetary policy transmission, and financial stability frameworks through unified standards, rules, and technical foundations, to reduce systemic risks and enhance the resilience of the payment system.

System Upgrade

Compared to the previous exploratory phase focused on regional pilots and scenario validation, the upcoming implementation of the new generation of systematic management phase emphasizes institutionalization, standardization, and sustainable operation. The pilot period focused more on technical feasibility and scenario adaptation, while the new phase will incorporate digital renminbi into the regular currency and payment statistical system through the clearly defined new generation measurement framework and management system starting from January 1, 2026, providing quantifiable basis for policy formulation. According to public reports, the positioning of the new generation measurement framework in statistics, monitoring, and risk control will establish a unified data caliber around dimensions such as issuance scale, usage structure, institutional distribution, and scenario penetration, to identify concentration risks, liquidity risks, and operational risks early. For participating institutions and operating entities, the upgrade of operational mechanisms and management systems means facing more detailed compliance requirements in areas such as account management, transaction review, data reporting, and reserve management; at the same time, operational processes, risk control models, and technical systems need to interface with the central bank's unified management service system, which may increase compliance costs in the short term, but is expected to reduce operational uncertainty in the medium to long term through clear rules and unified interfaces.

Infrastructure

At the infrastructure level, the action plan has been interpreted by multiple parties as aiming for deeper integration of digital renminbi with existing payment clearing, account systems, and terminal acceptance networks. Reports indicate that in terms of payment clearing, future efforts will promote smoother connections between digital renminbi transactions and existing interbank clearing systems and payment institution clearing platforms through the unification of rules and interface standards, without fabricating specific technical details; regarding account systems, digital renminbi wallets are expected to form clearer mappings and divisions with bank accounts and payment accounts under the regulatory framework, enhancing the clarity of account system hierarchy and risk isolation; in terms of terminal acceptance, efforts will continue to promote compatibility of POS machines, QR codes, mobile terminals, and other multi-scenario acceptance facilities with digital renminbi payments. The policy direction for ecological system construction is to build multi-layered collaboration between banks, payment institutions, and industrial scenarios: banks and operating entities are responsible for compliance and risk control foundations, while payment institutions and scenario parties explore applications in retail payments, government payments, and industrial chain settlements. The pace of infrastructure construction needs to align with the implementation timeline of 2026, allowing for a transition period for technical transformation, system joint debugging, and migration of existing systems after policy clarification. This process may bring about a phase of dual-track operation and cost pressure, but it is also a necessary stage in the transition from pilot to regular operation.

Market Impact

From the statements of the China Financial News and several financial media outlets, the market generally views this action plan as a key signal for the digital renminbi entering a new stage, with policy expectations shifting from "whether to push, how much to push" to "how to regulate the push, how to push safely." Under this systematic management framework, the landscape of traditional electronic payments and commercial bank retail businesses may face medium to long-term reshaping: on one hand, as a legal tender form, digital renminbi will be included in unified measurement and regulation, forming structural replacements or complements to existing electronic payment tools in areas such as small-value high-frequency payments and public service payments; on the other hand, competition among commercial banks in the retail payment sector will increasingly reflect in the design of digital renminbi products, scenario expansion, and comprehensive service capabilities, rather than just rates and customer acquisition channels. For the stability of the financial system, systematic management and unified measurement help enhance regulatory controllability and resource allocation efficiency: the central bank can more accurately grasp the proportion of digital renminbi in the M0 structure and the usage concentration in different regions and industries, allowing for earlier intervention and more refined adjustments in monetary policy implementation, payment system emergency support, and risk isolation arrangements.

Future Outlook

Without touching on unpublished technical architectures and specific implementation details, the strategic significance of this policy upgrade mainly lies in elevating digital renminbi from a "technical and scenario experimental project" to an "institutional component of the national financial infrastructure system." Its phased mission is to complete the unified construction of the measurement framework, management system, operational mechanism, and ecological system, providing a safe boundary and rule foundation for subsequent broader promotion and multi-level financial innovation. From a medium to long-term planning perspective, the evolution of the digital renminbi ecological system is expected to experience several key milestones: including the landing phase of systematic management starting from January 1, 2026, followed by deeper expansion phases around more industrial scenarios and public service scenarios, and a deepening phase of collaboration with broader financial infrastructure under prudent conditions. However, the specific implementation details, technical routes, access standards, and the division of responsibilities among different types of institutions in the action plan still await gradual disclosure by the central bank through supporting rules; especially the market's focus on cross-border usage paths, the specific relationship between the new version of the "Renminbi Cross-Border Payment System Business Rules" and digital renminbi is still in a "to be verified" state, and the correlation with CIPS rules is explicitly required not to be inferred arbitrarily, with subsequent authoritative documents and official statements to be the standard.

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