Starting January 1, 2026, digital renminbi will officially transition from the "digital cash" era to the interest-bearing "digital deposit currency" era.
Written by: Sanqing, Foresight News
On December 29, Lu Lei, Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, published an article in the Financial Times titled "Upholding Integrity and Innovation, Steadily Developing Digital Renminbi," detailing that "the People's Bank of China will issue the 'Action Plan on Further Strengthening the Management and Service System of Digital Renminbi and Related Financial Infrastructure Construction' (hereinafter referred to as the 'Action Plan'), and the new generation of digital renminbi measurement framework, management system, operational mechanism, and ecological system will officially start implementation on January 1, 2026."
The article points out that among the projects being tested and promoted by central banks around the world, digital renminbi is in a leading position, possessing capabilities as a universal mixed, programmable, efficiently regulated, and all-scenario currency. Digital renminbi is not only a payment tool but also a modern monetary cornerstone for building a "financial powerhouse."
Additionally, the article argues that emerging "currencies" such as stablecoins and crypto assets, which are detached from central bank currency issuance and the circulation and trading of licensed, regulated financial institutions, can easily self-circulate outside the financial system, leading to severe fluctuations in financial asset prices and challenging the macro-control capabilities of central banks.
From "Non-Interest-Bearing Cash" to "Interest-Bearing Deposits"
Throughout the ten-year research and pilot process of digital renminbi, its positioning has always been as currency in circulation (M0), namely "digital cash."
Digital renminbi is primarily applied in small retail payment scenarios, where wallet balances do not earn interest. This characteristic somewhat limits users' enthusiasm for holding and using it. The most intuitive transformation of digital renminbi 2.0 lies in the "interest-bearing" feature.
According to the "Action Plan," banking institutions will pay interest on customers' real-name digital renminbi wallet balances, and this interest rate will adhere to self-discipline agreements on deposit rate pricing. This design breaks the previous boundary of pure M0 being unable to earn interest, and digital renminbi wallet balances will be classified into corresponding currency tiers based on liquidity.
From Policy Promotion by Banks to Inclusion in the "Bank Liabilities" System
The ability of digital renminbi to earn interest signifies a deeper transformation in its liability attributes. The "Action Plan" incorporates the digital currency of banking operational institutions into the reserve requirement system framework, with balances counted towards the deposit reserve base.
The new generation of digital renminbi clarifies that it belongs to the liabilities of commercial banks within their wallets, rather than being solely a liability of the central bank as before, and banks can autonomously conduct asset-liability management on wallet balances.
This means that digital currency is officially included in the scope of deposit insurance protection, enjoying a compensation guarantee of up to 500,000 yuan, equivalent to the safety level of traditional bank deposits. Banks can also use digital currency balances to issue loans and profit, rather than merely acting as an agency for the central bank.
From Prepaid Regulation to Programmable "Umbrella Wallet" Ecosystem
The "Action Plan" clarifies the mixed scheme of digital renminbi 2.0, which includes "account system + currency string + smart contract," proposing to upgrade the existing account system and promote the application of emerging technologies based on new accounts (digital renminbi wallets) to enhance the digitalization and intelligence of renminbi issuance, circulation, payment, and other links, and to upgrade the digital renminbi smart contract ecological service platform to support the construction of an open-source ecosystem for smart contracts.
Among them, the account system relies on banks to address regulatory needs such as identity verification and anti-money laundering; the currency string is a form of digital renminbi that completes payments through the delivery of currency strings while transferring ownership; and smart contracts are responsible for automatically directing the flow of currency strings between accounts when specific conditions are triggered.
On September 8, 2022, the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China launched the first digital renminbi smart contract prepaid fund management product—"Yuan Manager," which can combine commercial contract terms with the circulation of digital renminbi.
According to a 2024 report released by Postal Savings Bank, one of the digital renminbi operating institutions, by the end of the reporting period, the number of merchants using "Yuan Manager" had reached 551. Furthermore, according to a report by Beijing Business Daily on March 14, 2025, over 1,300 merchants had issued "Yuan Manager" prepaid consumption cards, covering various consumer sectors such as education and training, sports and fitness, beauty and hairdressing, shopping supermarkets, and dining.
Image: From left to right, Meituan, Spring Airlines, digital renminbi application interface
Funds remain the property of consumers until actual consumption occurs; only when the smart contract confirms that the service has been fulfilled will the funds be automatically transferred to the merchant, technically eliminating the risk of fund misappropriation or merchants "running away with the money."
According to a report by Yicai on July 24, 2024, after the large chain fitness brand "Wubai Youpin Fitness" in Qingdao closed due to operational irregularities, 51 consumers who purchased cards through Postal Savings Bank's "Smart Gold Guardian" platform received refunds triggered automatically by smart contracts on July 5.
mBridge Protocol and International Operating Center
In terms of cross-border payments, digital renminbi 2.0 is more of a institutional defense against the impact of private stablecoins, attempting to maintain control over base currency.
According to the "Action Plan," mBridge (Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge) utilizes distributed ledger technology (DLT) to construct a peer-to-peer settlement layer, focusing on balancing the monetary sovereignty of various countries.
Although the cumulative transaction amount has reached 387.2 billion yuan, digital renminbi accounts for a high 95.3%, which objectively reflects that the liquidity of this system still heavily relies on Chinese nodes and has not yet formed a truly multilateral internationalized ecosystem.
The Shanghai International Operating Center for digital renminbi, set to be launched in 2026, will be based on the Chengfang Chain foundation, implementing a "unified ledger, business segmentation" model, with the design goal of achieving atomic transactions of assets (such as bills, trade financing tools, carbon emission rights) and settlement tools (e-CNY) within the same ledger. This Chengfang Chain foundation resembles a licensed, compliant Layer 0, replacing the competitive mechanism of Web3 bridges by adding regulatory nodes and utilizing real-time data for risk identification.
Digital Renminbi 2.0 vs. Stablecoins and Crypto Assets
In the Web3 system, the core narrative of stablecoins and crypto assets is built on "permissionless," "trustless," and "intermediary-free" principles. Stablecoins are typically issued by private entities, often backed by short-term government bonds or other financial assets, promising a 1:1 exchange relationship.
The expansion of stablecoins essentially depends on the issuer's asset allocation capability, custody transparency, and market trust level. While this model gradually shifts money creation, circulation, and risk-bearing outside the traditional financial system, it does not rely on a single national account system, inherently possessing globality and high liquidity.
In scenarios such as cross-border payments, on-chain transactions, and fund transfers, it provides an almost instantaneous and low-friction settlement experience. At the same time, stablecoins serve as universal collateral, possessing high combinability, allowing on-chain financial products to iterate rapidly, which is an efficiency advantage difficult for other systems to match.
Unlike the external circulation of stablecoin systems, digital renminbi in its 1.0 phase is more akin to an electronic extension of paper currency. The design starting point of 2.0 is a complete system, adhering to a dual-layer operational system of "central bank + commercial bank," employing a mixed model of "account system + currency string + smart contract."
Within this framework, digital renminbi centers around accounts to carry identity verification, anti-money laundering, and reserve management, while introducing technologies such as blockchain in specific links to enhance settlement efficiency.
The goal of this design is to prevent the digital form of currency from independently expanding outside the financial system, thereby weakening the central bank's ability to control money supply, liquidity, and financial stability.
The essence of digital renminbi 2.0 is equivalent to bank deposits. The "Action Plan" clearly incorporates digital renminbi into the bank liability system, with real-name wallet balances counted towards the deposit reserve base, and the digital renminbi in commercial bank wallets being legally and economically equivalent to deposits.
Through reserve management, 100% margin arrangements for non-bank institutions, and classification into currency tiers based on liquidity, digital renminbi is re-integrated into the cycle of the modern banking system.
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