China’s digital RMB pilot program

At present, the digital yuan pilot program has been launched in 26 pilot areas in 17 provinces and cities.

Industry insiders pointed out that banks are empowering e-commerce platforms to accelerate the construction of digital RMB application scenarios through high-quality digital financial services, for the purpose of delivering a convenient and efficient payment experience to users. At the same time, e-commerce platforms themselves have a large user base, which, integrated with rich consumption scenarios, can also be an important channel for banks to obtain new clients for the digital RMB wallet. Fortifying cooperation between both sides will help extend the reach of digital RMB services and improve financial inclusion.

Since the launch of the digital RMB pilot program three years ago, digital RMB has gradually been integrated into every aspect of people’s lives. As the government encourages more commercial institutions and e-commerce platforms to participate in the pilot program, new scenarios of digital RMB consumption have been implemented and the value of digital RMB in promoting consumption and stabilizing growth has become increasingly prominent.

According to a document issued by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China, since 2022, the regional governments of the pilot regions have carried out nearly 30 digital RMB consumption bonus activities around themes such as “promoting consumption”, “fighting the epidemic” and “low-carbon travel”, and various commercial institutions have also carried out a number of marketing activities, which have strongly promoted the replenishment and release of potential of social consumption.

The digital RMB is essentially an innovative financial service product. “By issuing digital coupons, encouraging consumers to try out digital RMB, and giving them the opportunity to experience the technological advantages of digital RMB, this is a very important first step to promote the popularization of digital RMB.”

In order to promote the construction of digital RMB application scenarios, since the formal establishment of the digital RMB payment capacity in April 2022, e-commerce platforms have actively carried out various forms of digital RMB consumption promotion activities, including participating in digital RMB consumption coupon consumption activities held in Chengdu and Jianyang cities.

E-commerce companies accelerate the innovation of a new form of bank-enterprise cooperation, having cooperated with the Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and PSBC Guangzhou Branch to carry out digital RMB red envelope activities to further enhance consumers’ digital RMB payment experience.

For example, in the digital RMB red envelope campaign with several banks in December 2022, users in the pilot areas can receive a variety of digital RMB red envelope bonuses through the special sale e-commerce app, such as the PSBC Guangzhou Branch’s digital RMB red envelope bonus that takes off RMB 50 after hitting RMB 100 for new customers, the Construction Bank’s digital RMB red envelope bonus that allows users to accumulate up to RMB 50, and the Bank of China’s no-threshold digital RMB red envelope bonus that allows accumulation up to 123 yuan.

Data shows that with more digital RMB red envelope activities, the proportion of digital RMB payments on the platform has gradually increased, and the total transaction amount has reached nearly 300 million yuan. It is worth noting that among users of all ages, the post-90s users have the highest transaction amount per capita, indicating that young consumers have a higher acceptance and recognition of digital RMB.

In 2023, Digital RMB will be piloted in an orderly manner. As digital RMB pilot work continues to advance, the expansion of application scenarios and the broadening of the pilot program’s scope accelerated, the integration of digital RMB with online consumption scenarios such as e-commerce platforms is also getting closer.