Shanghai Finance Report: Digital RMB is expected to be officially launched nationwide after the Beijing Winter Olympics test is completed

According to BlockBeats, on April 23, the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Institute of Advanced Studies held a seminar on China's macroeconomic data analysis in the first quarter of 2021. At the meeting, the "China Macroeconomic Situation Analysis and Forecast" research group of the Institute of Advanced Studies released the "China Macroeconomic Situation Analysis and Forecast Report in the First Quarter of 2021".

The report stated that 2020 can be regarded as the first year of the central bank's digital currency in the world. The People's Bank of China took the lead in testing the digital RMB payment system DC/EP in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu and Beijing, which has made the central bank's digital currency, especially the digital RMB, gain widespread attention worldwide. At present, the People's Bank of China has a clear design idea for the digital RMB, and the technical preparation and domestic usage environment are becoming more mature. It is expected that the digital RMB will be officially launched nationwide after the Beijing Winter Olympics test is completed.

The report analyzes that at the beginning of 2021, the People's Bank of China continued to increase its testing of the DC/EP system. First, the test locations have been expanded to Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha and other places. Secondly, the carrier has been expanded from smartphone wallets to digital RMB cards. In addition, the People's Bank of China gave a detailed explanation of the "two-tier structure" nature of the issuance and use of digital RMB. That is, within the DC/EP system, the People's Bank of China is responsible for the issuance and wholesale of digital RMB. And each qualified financial institution, as the second-tier structure, is responsible for the retail of digital RMB and the daily management of digital wallets. This two-tier structure design avoids direct business competition between the central bank and private sector financial institutions to the greatest extent, reduces the risk of bank runs, and is therefore widely recognized internationally. In the relevant working papers of the IMF, this two-tier structure is proposed as one of the principles for countries to design central bank digital currency systems.