renminbi

The People's Bank of China today reiterated in its financial education campaign that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether do not have legal tender status and cannot be used for currency circulation; conducting virtual currency-related businesses within the country is considered illegal financial activity and is strictly prohibited.The People's Bank of China stated that without the consent of relevant authorities, domestic entities and their controlled overseas entities are not allowed to issue virtual currencies abroad, and no units or individuals, whether domestic or foreign, are permitted to issue stablecoins pegged to the Renminbi abroad. The People's Bank reminds the public not to participate in virtual currency issuance, trading, investment, or mining activities, to be wary of high-yield investment scams, and to avoid renting out bank cards, payment accounts, or participating in virtual currencies.In addition, the People's Bank advises caution against virtual currency investment products and trading platforms that claim "guaranteed profits" or "high interest"; not to participate in virtual currency issuance, trading, investment, or "mining" activities; not to join communities promoting virtual currency activities, not to click on links containing overseas virtual currency trading platforms, or download related apps; not to lend or rent out bank cards or payment accounts, not to buy or sell virtual currencies "on behalf of others" as instructed, and not to act as "drivers," "currency dealers," or "U merchants"; and to report any clues related to virtual currency business activities to the relevant regulatory authorities in a timely manner.

To implement the decision-making deployment of the "14th Five-Year Plan" regarding the "steady development of digital renminbi" and to further enhance the inclusiveness of digital renminbi services, continuously responding to the public's demand for safe, convenient, and efficient digital renminbi services, the People's Bank of China has added Ping An Bank, Hengfeng Bank, Bohai Bank, Shanghai Bank, Hangzhou Bank, Huishang Bank, Changsha Bank, and Guangxi Beibu Gulf Bank as operational institutions for bank-related digital renminbi services, and has connected to the central bank's digital renminbi system.The newly added institutions will commence digital renminbi operations after completing business and technical preparations. Currently, the number of operational institutions for digital renminbi services has expanded to 30. In the next step, the People's Bank of China will orderly promote the expansion of operational institutions according to market-oriented and rule-of-law principles, further stimulating the enthusiasm and creativity of market entities, and building an open, inclusive, and fair competitive environment for the development of digital renminbi.

The People's Bank of China proposed in the "Fifteenth Five-Year Reform and Development Plan of the People's Bank of China" to optimize financial infrastructure and the central bank service system, improve payment, treasury, and cash services, steadily develop the digital renminbi, and promote high-quality development of the credit reporting industry, as well as strengthen anti-money laundering supervision, to support the construction of a strong financial nation and high-quality economic development.Strengthen the governance foundation for the central bank's responsibilities, and comprehensively promote the construction of a law-based central bank and a digital central bank.

According to Jinshi reports, Guangdong Province is publicly soliciting opinions on the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the China (Guangdong) Pilot Free Trade Zone (Draft for Comments)," which aims to orderly expand financial openness and promote the expansion of pilot projects for cross-border payments using digital RMB.The plan mentions supporting the establishment of headquarters for international financial institutions, promoting innovative businesses such as cross-border finance and green finance, and deepening pilot projects for the transfer of cross-border credit assets.

According to Jinshi, the People's Bank of China held a work meeting for the second half of 2026, emphasizing the steady deepening of financial reform and opening up to the outside world. The meeting pointed out the active development of inter-central bank currency swaps and local currency settlement cooperation, supporting more foreign institutions to participate in the issuance of panda bonds, and promoting the construction of the cross-border payment system for the renminbi, as well as improving the cross-border infrastructure for digital renminbi.

According to Jinshi, the People's Bank of China held a work meeting for the second half of 2026, pointing out that the high-level opening of finance is steadily advancing. The meeting emphasized optimizing policies for enterprises' overseas lending, banks' overseas loans, and cross-border interbank financing in RMB, and creating overseas central bank repurchase tools.In the first half of the year, panda bond issuance exceeded 160 billion yuan, and significant progress was made in the construction of the RMB cross-border payment system, supporting the construction of international financial centers in Shanghai and Hong Kong, as well as the construction of the Xiong'an New Area and the new western land-sea corridor.

According to Caixin, the "People's Bank of China Law (Revised Draft)" was submitted for the first review at the 23rd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on June 23, 2026. Among the new proposals, "clarifying the legal status of digital renminbi" is a new term. The 2020 consultation draft only mentioned that "renminbi includes both physical and digital forms." Previous consultation drafts also stipulated that no unit or individual may produce or sell token vouchers and digital tokens to replace renminbi in circulation in the market. The People's Bank of China shall order the cessation of illegal activities, destroy illegally produced and sold token vouchers and digital tokens, confiscate illegal gains, and impose fines of up to five times the illegal amount.

The People's Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government issued the "Offshore Financial Action Plan for the Development of Shanghai International Financial Center," which points out that relying on the international operation center of the digital renminbi, it is necessary to build and operate the cross-border, offshore, and blockchain infrastructure of the digital renminbi under the premise of safety and controllability, steadily promote the interconnection with overseas financial infrastructure, and steadily advance the application and scenario expansion of the digital renminbi in offshore business.

The Digital Renminbi International Operation Center announced that with the adjustment of the digital renminbi measurement framework and the overall upgrade of the infrastructure system, the three major business platforms of the digital renminbi cross-border digital payment platform, blockchain service platform, and digital asset platform have been upgraded to the "Shubi Da" cross-border settlement comprehensive service platform (Cross-border e-CNY Transfer Services, referred to as CBETS). Currently, service agreements for direct participants have been signed with the first batch of 26 financial institutions.

The Digital Renminbi International Operation Center officially signed service agreements with the first batch of 26 financial institutions in Shanghai, marking the official launch of the brand operation of the upgraded "Digital Currency Cross-Border Settlement Comprehensive Service Platform" (CBETS).It is reported that with the overall upgrade of the infrastructure architecture, the original three platforms for cross-border digital payment, blockchain services, and digital assets have been officially integrated into CBETS. This platform has outstanding advantages such as low access costs, high settlement efficiency, and strong compatibility: it technically supports both centralized and blockchain systems, and the message standards are compatible with ISO20022; the business scenarios not only support cross-border retail scenarios such as barcode payment and tap-to-pay but also comprehensively cover remittances, trade, and investment and financing settlement, as well as wholesale and financial innovation businesses.The first batch of 26 financial institutions includes overseas branches and subsidiaries of banks such as ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB, Bank of Communications, Pudong Development Bank, and Guangfa Bank, as well as Standard Chartered China and Xinyin International. After the business goes live, its services will cover multiple countries and regions including Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Laos, Thailand, the UAE, Qatar, and Brazil, further leveraging digital technology to facilitate cross-border trade and investment financing.

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.