Ouyang Xiaohong/Text

Your e-CNY wallet finally has the taste of time.

Starting from January 1, 2026, the balance of digital RMB wallets will start to accrue interest based on current deposits. This change is an account restructuring at the micro level and a monetary breakout at the macro level.

If one still insists on "direct liabilities of the central bank+100% reserves+no interest calculation", the digital RMB will be like an experiment in payment tools. In the era of digital economy, as the digital RMB moves towards "deposit based, upgraded measurement framework, and more consistent incentive mechanism", it becomes more like a currency form that can adapt to economic growth and financial intermediary mechanisms, and to some extent, it is also endowed with another layer of meaning - exploring Chinese solutions for cross-border payments.

Say goodbye to zero interest

On December 29, 2025, Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, published an article in the Financial Times titled "Adhering to Integrity, Innovating, and Steadily Developing Digital RMB". The article reveals that the new generation of digital RMB measurement framework, management system, operation mechanism, and ecosystem will be officially launched and implemented on January 1, 2026.

The more crucial sentence in the article is that this system is arranged on the basis of a "two-tier structure", clarifying that the digital RMB held by customers in commercial bank wallets is a commercial bank liability based on accounts, marking the transition of digital RMB from cash based version 1.0 to deposit based currency based version 2.0.

On December 31, 2025, state-owned banks such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank of China, and Bank of Communications announced that the balance of digital RMB real name wallets opened in their banks would accrue interest at the current interest rate, which is consistent with the rules for current deposits.

At first glance, this seems like a feature update, where digital RMB is no longer just lying in a wallet like electronic change.

But in the monetary world, whether or not one can earn interest has never been a welfare issue, but an institutional issue - it defines whether a sum of money is "change" or "deposit", and also determines whether this money is included in the bank balance sheet, regulatory measurement framework, and cross-border settlement infrastructure stack.

Interest itself is not the focus, the key is that the upgraded digital RMB has begun to move from a tool to a system. This is not only a response to the question of "how to efficiently pay and settle in the digital age" and the expansion of the US dollar stablecoin system globally in recent years, but also a policy choice for the People's Bank of China's digital currency path.

You can also understand this institutional upgrade as: this time, the People's Bank of China is not only making a better digital payment tool, but also adjusting a whole set of "how money exists, how it circulates, and how it is governed" structures.

And this route actually laid the groundwork long ago. In ten years, the dual layer operation system of digital RMB has become a universally recognized standard by central banks worldwide, and is a fundamental system for ensuring financial stability. In September 2025, Mu Changchun, the director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, emphasized in a public speech the importance of "time value", "currency derivative ability", "consistency of responsibilities, rights and interests", and "upgrading of measurement framework". This set of keywords is essentially laying a theoretical foundation for the transition of digital RMB from M0 cash based pilot to a more sustainable form - a deposit based digital currency form that is interest bearing, operable, and more consistently integrated into the banking system.

Inclusive Risk Management

It is worth noting that just after "time value" was written into the digital RMB, the foreign exchange management side almost simultaneously gave another signal that is closer to small and medium-sized enterprises: making risk management cheaper, simpler, and more like a "standard capability".

According to the deployment of the National Foreign Exchange Management Work Conference held on January 5-6, 2026, the key tasks of foreign exchange management in 2026 include: deepening the reform of foreign exchange facilitation, optimizing the management of trade foreign exchange business, orderly expanding the pilot program of high-level opening up of cross-border trade, supporting financial institutions to develop simple and easy-to-use exchange rate hedging products, and reducing the cost of exchange rate hedging for small and medium-sized enterprises; Steadily exploring the construction of "smart foreign exchange management" and improving the digitalization level of foreign exchange management.

By combining these sentences, the meaning is very clear: on the one hand, it makes the cross-border capital flow between real trade and new formats smoother; On the other hand, make risk management more data-driven and transparent. In other words, to the outside world, it is an open "highway" (convenience); Internally, install a "glass room" (smart outer tube) with a security perspective device; In the middle, he also thoughtfully sent a "bulletproof vest" (a safe haven tool) to the enterprise.

The work conference of the People's Bank of China has formed a precise strategic response to the deployment of foreign exchange management work. In the game of "continuously deepening financial reform and opening up to the outside world" in 2026, the People's Bank of China presents a simultaneous approach of "top-level expansion" and "bottom-up interconnection", with hard connectivity of infrastructure and soft landing of payment experience advancing simultaneously.

On December 12, 2025, the People's Bank of China held a party committee meeting and listed "promoting the internationalization of the renminbi" and "steadily developing digital renminbi" as key areas of financial openness.

In the future, digital RMB will become the "core engine" for cross-border payments. You will see a trend: the competition for cross-border use of the RMB in the future is becoming more and more like a system experience - can you receive money faster, can you lock in exchange rates at lower costs, can you have less trouble proving authenticity and compliance?

As these answers become increasingly certain, the depth and resilience of the renminbi will no longer be just a grand narrative, but will become a currency medium that more market entities are willing to use. Just as the renminbi can be used for both large-scale trade between countries and for personal cross-border daily consumption, its internationalization may be more practical.

In November 2025, Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, stated at the "Hong Kong Fintech Week 2025" that the current focus of cross-border payment cooperation with Hong Kong includes expanding the business of the Renminbi Cross border Payment System (CIPS) in Hong Kong, actively promoting the interconnection of fast payment systems between the two places, and deepening the interconnection of cross-border QR code payments. Looking ahead, Lu Lei stated that he will explore new cross-border payment solutions using digital RMB.

Same directional reinforcement chain

Put the recently announced policies on the same map, and a "parallel reinforcement chain" of cross-border RMB settlement and digital financial infrastructure will emerge on paper: the upper level is demand - to run money and goods in the channel; Middle level is the institutional track - what clearing and settlement system should be used; The bottom layer is form and governance - what form of money to use, what kind of ledger and compliance module.

On December 24, 2025, eight departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Financial Support to Accelerate the Construction of the Western Land Sea New Corridor". This document clearly proposes to leverage the advantages of digital RMB payment, settlement, low cost, and programmability in the policy package for expanding the cross-border use of RMB. It explores the use of digital RMB smart contracts to create innovative solutions and explores the feasibility of expanding the application of digital RMB in channel payment settlement, financing, tax refund, and other scenarios; Study expanding the cross-border application scope of digital RMB and utilizing bilateral and multilateral cross-border business models to reduce costs and increase efficiency for cross-border payments through channels.

Subsequently, the People's Bank of China issued the revised "Business Rules for RMB Cross border Payment System" (effective from February 1, 2026). This rule is like "infrastructure", making the cross-border RMB main clearing track more manageable, scalable, and capable of carrying complex financial settlements - from participant management, message standards, query and reply, to zero balance accounts that do not accrue interest, cannot be overdrawn, and cannot form settlement funds, to supporting real-time full and timed net amounts, and including payment to payment/securities to payment/central counterparty, etc., all of which are institutional barriers and interfaces for the large-scale operation of cross-border financial transactions.

The 2.0 version of the digital RMB is adjusting the "form of money itself": pushing the digital RMB from a digital cash pilot to a more "deposit based, measurable, and sustainable" framework, and making commercial banks and users more consistent in terms of incentives and responsibility boundaries.

The Action Plan for Further Strengthening the Management Service System and Related Financial Infrastructure Construction of Digital RMB issued by the People's Bank of China will be implemented on January 1, 2026, covering the upgrading of measurement framework, management system, operation mechanism, and ecosystem.

Three documents combined point to the same goal - to make cross-border RMB both "usable", "well used", and "manageable".

Pipeline Transformation System

In the past, payment settlement was more like a pipeline - money went from A to B, and the pipeline was kept as neutral as possible.

The future settlement is more like a system - it not only transfers funds, but also carries identity, scenario, purpose, compliance verification, risk identification, and can even trigger automatic execution (tax refund, account splitting, conditional payment).

So, what does this mean for ordinary people? It can be summarized in three sentences.

One reason is that your money will be smarter: daily consumption, cross-border payments, subsidies, special funds, prepayments, and supply chain payments may be more suitable for programmable circulation.

Secondly, your money will also be more regulated: the usage boundaries will be clearer, and compliance verification will be prioritized.

Thirdly, your wallet is not just a wallet: it gradually becomes a part of the entry point for financial infrastructure.

Therefore, the sharpness of the 2.0 version of the digital RMB lies in redoing the underlying logic of settlement - making settlement more automated, manageable, and replicable across borders.

As of the end of November 2025, the digital RMB has processed a total of 3.48 billion transactions with a cumulative transaction amount of 1.67 trillion yuan. 230 million personal wallets have been opened through the digital RMB APP, and 18.84 million digital RMB unit wallets have been opened. The multilateral central bank digital currency bridge has processed a total of 4047 cross-border payment transactions, with a cumulative transaction amount equivalent to RMB 387.2 billion. Among them, digital RMB accounts for about 95.3% of the transaction amount in various currencies.

Although there is great room for improvement in the use of market entities, the institutional signal released by this set of data is clear enough: the Digital RMB 2.0 version attempts to integrate the "form of money", "settlement rules", and "cross-border experience" into a scalable system.

For institutions, Liu Xiaochun, Vice President of Shanghai New Financial Research Institute, believes that the conversion of digital RMB to digital deposit currency will greatly improve the liquidity of digital RMB in the banking system.

Guan Tao, Global Chief Economist of Bank of China Securities, pointed out that after the digital RMB becomes a liability of commercial banks, it will promote banks to provide more financial services around it and achieve unified rights and responsibilities.

If you only look at interest calculation, you may think it's just a functional update, but if you put it into the three-layer structure of "requirements track underlying governance", the picture will become clear - this is not a single point upgrade, but a system engineering.

The internationalization trend of RMB

Overseas institutions are concerned about three things: settlement in RMB, whether financing and liquidity are sufficient? Can compliance auditing and risk management be explained clearly? Can cross-border chains be standardized and scaled up?

When an infrastructure changes from a 'neutral pipeline' to a 'rule-based system', it can give overseas institutions a stronger sense of certainty - trust in the rules. For banks, multinational corporations, and clearing institutions, this certainty is sometimes more important than 'a little faster'.

In the view of Wang Yongli, former vice president of Bank of China, China's policy orientation of firmly promoting the development of digital RMB and resolutely curbing virtual currencies has been fully clarified.

In other words, the underlying rules of global finance have been reshaped, and the US dollar stablecoin is a spontaneous "on chain expansion" of the market, while China is taking the path of "institutional foundation+technological empowerment".

Wang Yongli stated that after classifying digital RMB as a deposit currency, it can no longer be expressed in the form of a "wallet", but should be carried out through an account and meet the needs of various deposit businesses such as current RMB deposits, fixed deposits, and margin deposits. Correspondingly, according to existing standards, digital RMB can only be included in M1 (narrow currency) and M2 (broad currency).

In the era of Digital RMB 2.0, there are three "follow-up variables" that need to be clarified.

Firstly, how to implement the monetary hierarchy and statistical caliber: which wallet balances are deposited into M1 and M2? How to merge cross institutional wallets?

Secondly, will the interest rate mechanism be tiered: currently listed on demand, will there be finer wallet level interest rates in the future? What is the impact on moving savings?

Finally, is the essence of the cross-border application of digital RMB and the digital RMB international operation center more focused on "compliant asset chain issuance+settlement tools", or is it closer to "offshore RMB digital infrastructure"?

On September 24, 2025, the Digital RMB International Operations Center officially began operations in Shanghai, and launched a digital RMB cross-border digital payment platform, a digital RMB blockchain service platform, and a digital asset platform. On October 27, 2025, Pan Gongsheng, the Governor of the People's Bank of China, announced at the 2025 Financial Street Forum Annual Meeting the establishment of a Digital RMB Operation and Management Center in Beijing, responsible for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the digital RMB system, promoting the development of digital RMB, and assisting in the construction of the National Financial Management Center in the capital.

According to Lu Lei, there are three major directions for cross-border payment of digital RMB: firstly, a multilateral central bank digital currency bridge to achieve multi currency, second level cross-border payment; The second is the digital RMB cross-border payment platform, which has been connected to Hong Kong with "fast speed"; The third is the dual platform of blockchain and digital assets, which enhances the efficiency of value circulation.

Of course, the "ceiling" of RMB internationalization is still related to macro conditions such as capital account and asset market depth, but the "floor" is often composed of more specific elements, including whether settlement is determined, whether rules are clear and transparent, whether risk control can be replicated, and whether compliance costs are sufficiently low. Only when the 'floor' is fully laid can 'water' flow.

Rules updates, platform construction, interconnectivity, scenario promotion... These seemingly scattered actions do not necessarily need to be interpreted as strategies in a high-profile manner. But they all point to a trend - driven by the dual wheels of "institutional platform+scenario innovation", as rules, risk control, and compliance capabilities are embedded into settlement systems, the internationalization of the renminbi is moving from a "trading choice question" to an "infrastructure supply question".