The central bank has complete user information and transaction data of the digital renminbi, which can weaken the monopoly advantage of commercial financial institutions, especially Internet platforms, in big data.
Original title: “Wang Yongli | Is digital RMB comparable to Alipay? 》
Author: Wang Yongli, former Vice President of Bank of China
For this issue, many people have summarized many differences. For example, digital renminbi is the currency of the central bank, while Alipay and Tenpay are bank currency or wallet currency. The two have different legal and credit ratings and security. It is also different from liquidity; digital renminbi is a public product, and its distribution and circulation can be free, Alipay and Tenpay are commercial services, and the payment and settlement handled by them are charged; Alipay and Tenpay cannot be directly open to the public (Institutions and individuals) accept deposits and handle cash receipts and payments, so they must be linked to bank deposit accounts (mainly bank cards), and digital renminbi does not need to be linked to bank deposit accounts; Alipay and Tenpay are online payments, which are connected to the network and Communication is highly dependent, and digital renminbi can achieve dual offline “bang-bang payment”, greatly reducing the dependence on the network and communication, and so on.
But many of these cannot withstand scrutiny. In fact, they are specious and inaccurate and require careful consideration.
Don’t confuse “currency” with “payment”
The digital renminbi is the digitization of the renminbi. It is an integral part of the total renminbi, but its manifestation and payment operation methods have changed. Simply put, the digital renminbi is the “currency.”
Alipay, Tenpay, etc., are payment operating facilities, systems and methods of currency, and serve the circulation of currency. They can be used for the payment operation of the original renminbi or the payment operation of the digital renminbi (digital renminbi can also become the currency in Alipay and Tenpay wallets). Therefore, Alipay and Tenpay are mainly currency “payment” operating systems, and they are not “currency” themselves.
Therefore, in a strict sense, digital renminbi is fundamentally different from payment systems such as Alipay and Tenpay, and cannot be directly compared!
Don’t confuse “currency” with “deposit”
Nowadays, some people often call the currency issued by the central bank (such as cash) “central bank currency” and consider it as a central bank liability; call deposits absorbed by commercial banks “bank currency” and consider it as bank liabilities; and refer to non-bank payment institutions (not Directly accept deposits and receive and pay cash to the public) The money in the “wallet” is called “wallet currency” and is considered to be the liability of the payment institution. Furthermore, it is determined that their legal indemnity and credit rating are different, as are their security and liquidity.
This actually confuses “currency” with “deposit”.
Under the current “dual (two-tier) model” of currency issuance and operation, the central bank will automatically transfer money to the bank into the bank’s deposit account with the central bank, which is manifested as the central bank’s liabilities to the bank; the bank issues loans to borrowers Currency (note that the bank still puts legal tender instead of the bank’s own currency), it will also be automatically transferred to the borrower’s deposit account in the bank, which represents the bank’s liabilities to the depositor; people transfer part of the bank’s deposits into When it is opened in a wallet (essentially a special deposit account) opened by a non-bank payment institution, it will increase the payment institution’s liabilities. From the perspective of “deposits” or liabilities, the credit and risk of these types of liabilities are different. However, from the perspective of “currency”, the currencies behind these types of “deposits” are all the same legal tender (such as RMB), and there is no difference at all. This must be accurately grasped!
Even if a digital renminbi is launched, there will still be banks opening digital renminbi deposit accounts in the central bank, other institutions (including non-bank payment institutions) and individuals opening digital renminbi “wallets” (accounts) in banks, and people will then use the bank digital renminbi ” “Wallet” transfers part of the deposit into the digital RMB “wallet” opened by a non-bank payment institution. The digital renminbi behind these three are all the same currency, and there is no difference at all!
Currency payment operation will be different
First of all, the central bank positions its digital renminbi as cash in circulation (M0). It does not mean that digital renminbi must be designed and managed strictly in accordance with the cash pattern and payment operation mode.
When the central bank made it clear that the digital renminbi it released was the digitization of the renminbi, and after positioning it at M0, many people took it for granted that the digital renminbi must also distinguish between different denominations, and there must be a digital renminbi APP or wallet similar to the design of cash, especially It is necessary to have the serial number and identification password of each digital renminbi, so as to ensure that the central bank can track the whereabouts of each digital renminbi and strengthen the supervision of the use of digital renminbi.
In fact, this idea has not jumped out of the traditional currency and cash thinking at all, and truly adapts to the requirements of “digital currency”. If you do this, you will inevitably encounter a large number of exchange differences during the actual payment and settlement. If you still need to transmit and display different color screens, it will increase a lot of operating costs, which is completely superfluous (even for Bitcoin and Ethereum). Even if the digital currency is generated in the network, there is no problem of encrypting each digital currency separately). Digital currency can completely verify the fidelity of every payment, and there is no need to verify the fidelity of every currency!
In this way, even if the digital renminbi is positioned in cash, but it is not the original physical cash, its payment operation still depends on the account system. Even with the dual offline “Bang Bang Pay” function, it can only be a small emergency application. It is necessary to send the “Bang Bang Payment” information to the wallet management agency to adjust the wallet balance as soon as possible. It is impossible to completely leave the account. The system implements direct hardware bang-bang payment between the receiving and paying parties. Otherwise, the risk is very large. The digital renminbi “wallet” is essentially a “deposit” account. Therefore, the central bank has also made it clear that the operation of digital renminbi needs to rely on a “broad account system.”
Secondly, the central bank’s digital renminbi is positioned at M0, which does not mean that all digital renminbi can only be issued by the central bank, and can only be limited to substitute cash.
Just like the traditional renminbi system, the part of the cash that the central bank puts in belongs to M0, but in addition, commercial banks can also issue money to borrowers by issuing loans or buying bonds; the central bank can also use re-lending or fund lending, etc. Put money into commercial banks (of course, this does not affect the total amount of money). The total currency is not only cash, but includes cash in circulation and public deposits in banks, and the proportion of cash in the total currency has been very low (in major economies, the proportion of cash in the total currency is basically all Within 4%), and still showing a continued downward trend.
Therefore, if digital renminbi is only limited to replacing cash in circulation, rather than replacing all traditional renminbi as much as possible, then digital renminbi can only be exchanged with cash, not deposits, and its development scale and practical effect will be very limited. It is difficult to meet the needs of the internationalization of the digital RMB, and the two operating systems of the digital RMB and the original RMB will be maintained for a long time. This will bring great challenges to the coordination of the two management systems and monetary policy facilities. The significance of the currency digital reform will be affected. Greatly weakened.
Therefore, the digital renminbi should still adhere to the “dual (two-tier) model.” In addition to the central bank’s limited digital renminbi compared with M0, commercial banks also need to derive more digital renminbi through loans or purchase bonds to promote digital renminbi. Try to replace all traditional renminbi as much as possible, and promote the substantial contraction of the payment circulation of physical cash (the existing cash receipt and payment business and bank card-related businesses are bound to shrink significantly). On the basis of the basic stability of domestic operations, it is necessary to further expand opening up, promote the international development of digital RMB, and promote profound changes in the international monetary system and payment and settlement system.
In this way, compared with traditional renminbi , the digital renminbi will not have fundamental changes in the nature of the currency and the framework of large delivery and operation : the digital renminbi is still legal tender, and the central bank is still mainly responsible for the limited M0 delivery and currency Regulation of the total amount (the formulation and implementation of monetary policy), and is responsible for financial macro-prudential supervision, providing necessary financing for commercial banks, etc.; various financial businesses, especially the issuance of loans and bond purchases, and monetary payment and settlement, etc. Specialized commercial financial institutions, the central bank will not replace commercial financial institutions and non-bank payment institutions (like Bitcoin and Ethereum, its payment and settlement are completely operated on a single layer on a platform), so as to avoid dealing with existing financial institutions. The system will bring a huge impact and maintain the basic stability of the financial system as much as possible.
Third, the central bank may implement full-user and full-process monitoring on the operation of digital RMB.
Although the central bank will not be engaged in the specific processing of various financial services of digital renminbi, the central bank can use modern information technology to realize the comprehensive collection of digital renminbi user information and payment data, thereby achieving strict monitoring of the entire digital renminbi users and the entire process.
The specific approach may be: the central bank implements centralized and unified management of digital renminbi from the source. All digital renminbi users must download the central bank’s unified “digital renminbi APP” before they can open a “digital renminbi” with specific business agencies under it. “Wallet”, all digital renminbi payment and settlement information must be sent to the business agency and the central bank for registration and verification. In this way, it is possible to form a “digital RMB account” in the central bank that includes all digital RMB users and transaction data. However, the account in the central bank is only a reference account or a basic account for the digital renminbi, not a business account, and there is no interest calculation problem; and the digital renminbi business agency can no longer directly obtain a payment for both parties, like traditional renminbi. Complete transaction information, but only the user information and transaction data that open a digital renminbi wallet in this institution can be obtained. In this way, the central bank will form the most complete users of digital renminbi and operational big data, which will greatly enhance the accuracy and effectiveness of the central bank’s full-process monitoring of digital renminbi operations and monetary policies, and strengthen the appropriate protection of trade secrets and personal privacy. , To realize the “limited anonymity” or “controllable anonymity” of digital RMB operation. At the same time, the central bank has the most complete user information and transaction data of the digital renminbi, which can weaken the monopoly position and advantages of commercial financial institutions, especially Internet platform companies, in big data, which is more conducive to fair competition and the whole society. consumer rights Protection.
This may become the biggest and most noteworthy change in digital RMB payment operations!
Of course, this model will bring great challenges to the central bank to maintain the operation of the digital renminbi system and the security and stability of big data. There are also deep-seated legal issues that need to be studied and resolved, such as the protection and effective use of central bank digital renminbi user information and big data.
It can be seen that digital currency is a new thing, and the current central bank’s digital renminbi is still in the exploration and initial stage. Many concepts and technical paths still need to be carefully considered and accurately grasped.
Source link: mp.weixin.qq.com
