renminbi

Former Hong Kong Stock Exchange President Li Xiaojia stated at the second Caixin London Atlantic Dialogue that China can export productivity and financial services to regions such as the Global South to expand the influence of the renminbi. Chinese financial institutions can issue credit loans in these countries through financial technologies such as blockchain.

According to Gate market data, the offshore RMB against the US dollar has broken through the 6.8 mark, marking the first breakthrough since February 2023.

According to The Block, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire stated in an interview with Reuters that there is a "huge opportunity" for the renminbi stablecoin. If Chinese authorities wish to enhance the global competitiveness of the renminbi, stablecoins will become an important technical means for currency internationalization, and he predicts that China may launch a renminbi stablecoin in the next 3 to 5 years.It is worth noting that the People's Bank of China and multiple departments have clearly prohibited the issuance of renminbi stablecoins abroad without regulatory approval as of February 2026. Meanwhile, the regulatory attitude in Hong Kong is completely opposite; the Hong Kong Monetary Authority issued the first batch of stablecoin licenses to HSBC and Anchorpoint Financial (a joint venture of Standard Chartered Bank, Animoca Brands, and Hong Kong Telecom) last week.

According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Vice President of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Chen Weimin, stated that the choice of which currency to issue for stablecoins primarily depends on the applicant's own decision. The issuance of a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin is the first step, and in the future, other currencies including the renminbi can be issued, which is permitted under Hong Kong's system, but the applicant also needs to obtain approval from mainland regulatory authorities.Regarding when the second batch of stablecoin issuer licenses will be issued, Chen Weimin indicated that there is currently no relevant timetable, but they have been in communication with applicants interested in applying for the license. It is reported that HSBC's stablecoin will be integrated into the PayMe and HSBC HK App applications and will support real-time transfers between individuals, as well as person-to-merchant (P2M) services.

According to Jinshi Data, in order to implement the decision-making deployment of the "14th Five-Year Plan" regarding the "steady development of digital renminbi" and further enhance the inclusiveness of digital renminbi services, it continues to respond to the public's demand for safe, convenient, and efficient digital renminbi services.The People's Bank of China has added CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Guangfa Bank, SPD Bank, Zhejiang Commercial Bank, Ningbo Bank, Jiangsu Bank, Beijing Bank, Nanjing Bank, and Suzhou Bank as operational institutions for digital renminbi services in the banking sector, and they have connected to the central bank's digital renminbi system. The newly added institutions will launch digital renminbi services after completing business and technical preparations.

According to Caixin, after 10 banks including the six major state-owned banks, 12 commercial banks may connect to the central bank's digital renminbi system. It is reported that seven national joint-stock banks, including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Guangfa Bank, Huaxia Bank, Minsheng Bank, CITIC Bank, Everbright Bank, and Zhejiang Commercial Bank, as well as five local city commercial banks, including Jiangsu Bank, Beijing Bank, Ningbo Bank, Nanjing Bank, and Suzhou Bank, are expected to join.As of now, there are 10 banks operating the digital renminbi, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, Postal Savings Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, as well as WeBank and MYbank.

According to Caixin, China's digital yuan operating organization will further expand, with the central bank planning to add about 12 commercial banks to the digital yuan system, which will undertake functions such as wallet opening, exchange, and payment processing, and will be responsible for daily operations and maintenance.Previously, 10 banks, including the six major state-owned banks, had already participated. The digital yuan adopts a "central bank centralized + commercial bank dual-layer operation" structure, where the People's Bank is responsible for issuance, top-level design, and system supervision, while designated operating institutions are responsible for front-end services and compliance obligations such as anti-money laundering and customer identification. As the digital yuan upgrades from "digital cash" to "digital deposit currency," the enthusiasm of commercial banks to participate is expected to increase, and the application scenarios and coverage of the digital yuan are expected to expand simultaneously.

The Digital Renminbi Operations Management Center officially announced three types of "scam" schemes: Scheme One is using "Digital Renminbi promotion" as a pretext to conduct pyramid scheme fraud. The Digital Renminbi has never engaged in activities such as "recruiting promoters," "promoter exams," "down codes," or "developing subordinates," and has never charged a 400 yuan/device installation service fee. Any recruitment of "civilian promoters" through group chats or offline and online meetings is a scam; Scheme Two is luring individuals to transfer money under the guise of "order brushing and rebates," and Scheme Three is tricking individuals into downloading counterfeit apps to steal information or funds.

According to Caixin, NPC representative and former president of the Liaoning branch of the People's Bank of China, Fu Xiguo, submitted a proposal to accelerate the revision and introduction of the "People's Bank of China Law of the People's Republic of China." Currently, the digital renminbi lacks clear legal regulation, and the issuance, circulation, and risk prevention face a legal vacuum, resulting in the central bank lacking a legal basis when fulfilling its issuance management responsibilities, making it difficult to effectively ensure the circulation safety of the digital renminbi and protect the rights and interests of financial consumers. The revision of the "People's Bank Law" should clarify the legal status of the digital renminbi as legal tender and define the core responsibilities of the central bank as the issuer of the digital renminbi.The new "People's Bank Law" should also include behaviors such as counterfeiting and tampering with the digital renminbi within the scope of legal regulation, clarifying corresponding legal responsibilities and penalty standards to ensure the circulation safety of the digital renminbi.

According to Caixin, NPC representative Fu Xiguo submitted a proposal to expedite the revision and enactment of the "People's Bank of China Law of the People's Republic of China." Currently, the digital RMB lacks clear legal regulations, and the issuance, circulation, and risk prevention face a legal vacuum, resulting in the central bank lacking a legal basis in fulfilling its issuance management responsibilities, making it difficult to effectively ensure the circulation safety of digital RMB and protect the rights and interests of financial consumers. The revision of the "People's Bank Law" should clarify the legal status of digital RMB as legal tender and define the core responsibilities of the central bank as the issuer of digital RMB.The new "People's Bank Law" should also include acts such as counterfeiting and tampering with digital RMB within the scope of legal regulation, clarifying the corresponding legal responsibilities and penalties to ensure the circulation safety of digital RMB.

The People's Bank of China announced that in order to promote the development of the foreign exchange market and support enterprises in managing exchange rate risks, the People's Bank of China has decided to lower the foreign exchange risk reserve requirement for forward foreign exchange sales from 20% to 0% starting from March 2, 2026.Next, the People's Bank of China will continue to guide financial institutions to optimize their exchange rate hedging services for enterprises and maintain the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level.

According to Jinshi News, the onshore RMB against the US dollar has broken through the 6.89 mark, reaching a high not seen since early May 2023.

According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, Wang Yang, pointed out that the digital yuan has been tentatively involved in settlements in Hong Kong's digital asset market. In addition to traditional settlement methods, the primary issuance of Hong Kong dollar and renminbi bonds is also among the first in the world to apply digital yuan and digital Hong Kong dollars in the settlement process for digital bonds.Furthermore, Hong Kong will be the best market for accommodating onshore assets RWA. With regulatory adjustments and market development, there will be greater opportunities for renminbi assets to be issued as digital assets in the Hong Kong market, with digital yuan naturally being the preferred settlement currency. From a developmental perspective, stablecoins will become an important usage habit for offshore market users. In the internationalization of the renminbi, offshore renminbi stablecoins are one of the future options, while digital yuan deposits and digital yuan liquid assets provide the necessary reserve assets for offshore renminbi stablecoins.

The first batch of digital RMB smart contract salary distribution in Sichuan Province has successfully landed in Chengdu High-tech Zone, distributing over 1 million yuan in wages to 104 construction workers. This technology achieves "instant salary payment, cannot be intercepted, and is fully traceable," providing an innovative solution to the issue of wage arrears for migrant workers.The local company Yizhi Technology has developed the "Anxin Zhu" platform to provide technical support for this, effectively solving the wage distribution problem through the combination of "business flow + capital flow." Chengdu High-tech Zone has established a smart supervision system covering 176 engineering projects and 164,600 workers, with a total wage distribution exceeding 2.817 billion yuan and a payment rate of 98.62%. Sichuan Province will continue to promote the "Artificial Intelligence +" initiative, expanding the application of digital RMB in scenarios such as wage payments for migrant workers.

According to Jinshi News, the onshore RMB has risen above the 6.93 mark against the US dollar.

The official WeChat account of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China announced that it has successfully launched a pilot program for the cross-border digital payment platform using digital renminbi. Among them, the ICBC Singapore branch is actively implementing the innovative pilot project for overseas recharge of digital renminbi personal wallets as part of the 2025 China-Singapore Bilateral Cooperation Joint Committee (JCBC). The ICBC Vientiane branch and the ICBC Shandong branch successfully processed the first cross-border remittance under international trade using digital renminbi between China and Laos.

The Digital Renminbi Operation Management Center has launched the "Carbon Inclusive" mini-program service within the Digital Renminbi App, and it has been first rolled out in the Shanghai area. After users activate this service, carbon credits generated from green and low-carbon behaviors such as riding the subway, taking public transport, and cycling shared bikes will be automatically accumulated in the "Carbon Inclusive" account and can be exchanged for digital renminbi.The mini-program initially integrates platforms such as Metro Metropolitan (Shanghai Metro), Hello Chuxing, and T3 Chuxing. After users link their accounts from the aforementioned platforms within the Digital Renminbi App, the system will automatically record low-carbon behaviors and accumulate points. Users need to activate the digital renminbi wallet and upgrade to a real-name wallet before redemption.

The 2026 People's Bank of China work conference was held on January 5-6, summarizing the work of 2025. It pointed out that in 2025, efforts would be made to actively promote the reform and improvement of global financial governance, further enhance financial management and service levels, and advance the precise governance of "funding chains" related to fraud and gambling.The conference emphasized strengthening the regulation of virtual currency transactions, enhancing cash supply security, and optimizing the management system of the digital renminbi. Key tasks for 2026 include: improving the infrastructure for the cross-border use of the renminbi, strengthening the regulation of virtual currencies, continuing to combat related illegal activities, deepening technological management and innovative applications, and steadily developing the digital renminbi.

On the first trading day of 2026, the RMB against the USD continued its appreciation trend. Today, the RMB against the USD reached a maximum of 6.977 during the trading session, once again hitting a new high since mid-May 2023. At 16:30, the closing price of the RMB against the USD was reported at 6.9806, an increase of 84 basis points from the previous trading day, marking a new high since May 17, 2023.Wen Bin, chief economist of China Minsheng Bank, expects that in January, supported by seasonal demand for foreign exchange settlement, the RMB may still have room for appreciation. However, the RMB against the USD midpoint has deviated towards depreciation compared to the closing price of the spot exchange rate, which may indicate a certain pro-cyclical behavior in the foreign exchange market recently.Overall, under the policy tone of regulatory authorities to maintain the RMB exchange rate basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level and to prevent excessive fluctuations in the exchange rate, although the RMB exchange rate may still operate on the strong side in January, it is expected that there will not be a significant appreciation, and it may fluctuate bidirectionally in the range of 6.9-7 for most of the time, Wen Bin pointed out.