Written by Guo Dexin (issued by Xinhua News Agency)
The rapid popularity of mobile payment makes people have rich reverie about the 'cashless society'. China is the most widely used country of mobile payment in the world and one of the countries closest to the "cashless society". However, only relying on mobile payment can not meet the reform requirements of the digital financial era. The concept of "digital currency" focusing on a deeper level came into being.
Recently, the relevant person in charge of the people's Bank of China (hereinafter referred to as the central bank) said publicly that the development of the digital currency system is under way and the 'digital RMB era' is coming. Why should the central bank launch digital currency? What are the connections and differences between the central bank's digital currency and online payment and the so-called 'virtual currency'?
What's the difference between digital currencies?
At the third China finance 40 people Yichun forum held recently, Mu Changchun, deputy director of the payment and Settlement Department of the central bank, said that the digital currency Research Institute under the central bank had started the development of the digital currency system as early as 2018, and the central bank's digital currency was' ready to come out ', which subsequently triggered widespread heated discussions in the Internet and financial circles.
The central bank's research on Issuing digital currency is not a temporary move. It is reported that the research on the central bank's digital currency has been carried out for five years since 2014. In 2017, the digital currency Research Institute of the central bank was officially established. At present, the Institute has applied for 74 patents related to digital currency technology.
In recent years, with the development of Internet technology, especially blockchain technology, many so-called "virtual currencies" have emerged all over the world, such as bitcoin, Wright currency and so on. So, what is the difference between the digital currency proposed by the central bank and these commercial 'virtual currencies'?
From the perspective of currency attributes, bitcoin and other 'virtual currencies' are not currencies in essence. " Unlike the legal tender issued by the state, virtual currency has the support of national credit. Its speculative nature is affected by factors such as tightening supervision and technical problems. Prices often rise and fall sharply, and interfere with the normal order of the domestic and even global monetary and financial system to a great extent.
From the perspective of the principle of money circulation, in order to ensure the orderly operation of the financial system and macro-control, only the state can exercise the highest power of money issuance. Therefore, the central bank digital currency is a legal digital currency issued by the central bank based on national credit, which is essentially different from bitcoin and other 'virtual currencies'.
Can it really replace cash in circulation?
China's electronic payment is already very developed. Why should the central bank introduce legal digital currency? " For ordinary people, the basic payment function is relatively vague between electronic payment and central bank digital currency, but the central bank digital currency invested by the central bank in the future is very different from electronic payment in some functions. " Mu Changchun said that in the past, the capital transfer of electronic payment instruments must be completed through traditional bank accounts, while the central bank's digital currency can realize value transfer without traditional bank accounts, greatly reducing the dependence of transaction links on accounts. Generally speaking, the central bank's digital currency can not only be as easy to circulate as cash, which is conducive to the circulation and internationalization of RMB, but also realize controllable anonymity.
It is understood that the cash in circulation is easy to be forged anonymously, and electronic payment tools such as bank cards and Internet payment can not fully meet the public's demand for anonymous payment. Therefore, the design of the central bank's digital currency is mainly aimed at the substitutability of cash in circulation, which not only maintains the attributes and main characteristics of cash, but also meets people's needs for portability and anonymity.
Wang Xin, director of the central bank's Research Bureau and monetary and gold and silver Bureau, said that the central bank's digital currency is mainly a certain degree of substitution for cash in China, which will help to optimize the central bank's monetary payment function and improve the central bank's monetary status and the effectiveness of monetary policy.
From this point of view, the introduction of digital currency by the central bank is neither the current popular e-wallet or online payment, nor the complete "push over and start over" to replace the existing RMB system, but a new encrypted e-currency system with certain substitutability for circulating cash.
Shao Fujun, chairman of China UnionPay Co., Ltd., said that the legal digital currency of the central bank will have a great positive impact, improve the efficiency of currency operation monitoring and enrich monetary policy means.
It is reported that the central bank's digital currency is mainly used in small retail high-frequency business scenarios. Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the central bank, once pointed out that the essence of studying digital currency is to pursue the convenience, quickness and low cost of retail payment system.
R & D is in 'horse racing' status
In recent years, commercial virtual currency has been controversial. People increasingly realize that the future development trend of digital currency is still legal digital currency issued by central banks based on national credit.
It is understood that at present, no central bank in the world has officially launched legal digital currency. Many central banks, including the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Bank of Sweden, are developing legal digital currencies. The International Monetary Fund said it plans to launch a global digital currency, the International Monetary Fund Currency (imfcoin), under the special drawing right mechanism.
At present, China is still in the stage of accelerating research and development in digital currency. For example, the central bank held a video conference on the work of the second half of 2019 on August 2, requiring 'accelerating the pace of research and development of China's legal digital currency'. The recently released "opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on supporting Shenzhen in building a leading demonstration zone of socialism with Chinese characteristics" clearly stated that it "supports the development of innovative applications such as digital currency research and mobile payment in Shenzhen".
It is understood that in the future, the central bank will not issue digital currency directly to the public, but adopt a two-tier operation system, that is, the central bank will first exchange digital currency to banks or other operating institutions, and then these institutions will exchange it to the public. The central bank may pilot the legal digital currency in some scenarios in the early stage, and further promote it after it is more mature. For the sake of prudence, it will design the pilot exit mechanism.
Mu Changchun revealed that at present, the development of the central bank's digital currency is in a 'horse racing' state, and several designated operating institutions take different technical routes for research and development. " Not necessarily blockchain, any technology can. Whether blockchain or centralized account system, electronic payment or so-called mobile currency, the central bank can adapt to any technical route. "