Recently, the digital RMB (pilot version) App has been officially launched in major application markets. On the 7th, 49 platforms, including JD.com, Meituan, ele.me, Tmall supermarket and DiDi Global Inc. travel, have been connected to the digital RMB system.

You can "unlock" the digital RMB by registering your mobile phone number.

A few days ago, the digital RMB (pilot version) App was officially launched in major Android app stores and Apple Inc AppStore. At present, the digital RMB is only piloted in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiongan, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hainan, Changsha, Xi'an, Qingdao, Dalian and the Winter Olympic Games (Beijing and Zhangjiakou), but cannot be registered in other areas.

According to the reporter's actual measurement, new users only need to use their mobile phone number to register, then they can use the digital RMB (pilot version) App for online and offline payment, which is similar to Alipay, WeChat Pay and other electronic payment tools.

After new users have completed the registration of digital RMB (pilot version) App, they can choose to open digital wallets of China Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Agricultural Bank Of China, Bank of China Ltd., China China Construction Bank Corporation, Bank of Communications, China Postal savings Bank, China Merchants Bank, Internet Merchants Bank (Alipay) and WeBank (WeChat Pay).

Personal digital wallets are divided into four levels, of which four types of wallets can be handled only by mobile phone numbers, with relatively strict transaction restrictions, with a single payment limit of 2000 yuan and a balance limit of 10, 000 yuan; one type of wallet does not have any transaction restrictions, but the handling requirements are the most stringent, requiring mobile phone number, ID card, personal bank account, and on-site face-to-face endorsement by the operator.

Eat, drink, make merry, digital RMB App can be used

As long as you have a digital wallet, users can collect and pay offline in digital RMB. Users can "scan" the QR code on the home page of the digital RMB (pilot version) App to pay for the digital RMB; for payment, you need to drop down the digital wallet page to display the collection code, and others can pay to the digital wallet holder through the QR code that appears on the scanned page.

In addition, after opening the online merchant bank (Alipay) and WeBank (WeChat Pay) digital wallet, users can see the entrance of "digital RMB" in Alipay (pilot in Shanghai area only, but not in other cities yet) and Wechat App.

At present, the pilot digital RMB App also connects to a variety of online payment scenarios, which users can use by adding "sub-wallets".

According to the reporter's statistics, the current digital RMB (pilot version) App has 49 merchants online on the sub-wallet page, including shopping, travel, life, tourism and several other categories, including JD.com, Meituan, ele.me, Tmall supermarket, DiDi Global Inc. travel, Bilibili Inc., Kuaishou Technology, iQIYI, Inc., Tencent video, Baidu, Inc. and other Internet merchants As well as SF Express, online national network (for electricity payment), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, China Telecom Corporation wing payment and other commonly used payment scenes in life.

What is the difference between digital RMB App and Wechat and Alipay?

The reporter paid the orders of Meituan and ele.me with digital RMB respectively, using similar methods as electronic payment tools. First of all, there are two ways to charge the digital wallet: transfer from the mobile bank, recharge the money with the bank card, then add Meituan and ele.me to the sub-wallet for authorization, and then open Meituan and ele.me to issue a normal order. select the digital RMB sub-wallet at the "choose payment method" to complete the digital RMB online payment.

On January 7, the reporter also used digital RMB to pay taxi fees, and the payment process tips are as follows: first, recharge a personal digital wallet. At present, there are two ways: transfer from a mobile bank, recharge a bank card, then add a taxi-hailing App to the sub-wallet merchant list, and then open the taxi-hailing App to issue a normal order. Choose digital RMB payment in the "payment method" to complete the digital RMB online payment.


Although the payment functions are similar, there are some differences between digital RMB and electronic payment instruments: first, digital RMB is the national legal tender and the asset with the highest security level, according to the central bank. Second, the digital RMB has the characteristics of value, which can transfer the value without relying on the bank account, and support offline transactions, with the characteristic of "payment is settlement". Third, the digital RMB supports controllable anonymity, which is conducive to the protection of personal privacy and user information security.

According to the reporter's understanding, the central bank has long attached great importance to the research and development of legal digital currency. From 2014 to 2016, the central bank set up a legal digital currency research group to start research on legal digital currency, started research and development of digital RMB at the end of 2017, and launched a pilot test of digital RMB at the end of 2019. According to the Financial Technology Development Plan (2022-2025) recently released by the central bank, "digital drive" will still be the development principle of the central bank in the next four years, and the digital RMB will be landed in more scenarios, allowing more people to enjoy convenience and universal benefits.