Central Bank: Digital RMB will coexist with Alipay and WeChat Pay

Since the digital RMB was proposed, many people have been wondering: Will it replace existing third-party digital payment methods such as Alipay and WeChat Pay and form a new monopoly? There have been various interpretations of this before, and today, the central bank officially stated: Digital RMB will coexist with Alipay and WeChat Pay!

In fact, digital currencies including the digital RMB are legal tender, while Alipay, WeChat Pay, etc. are third-party payment tools. The two are not on the same dimension at all, so there is naturally no question of whether they will be replaced or not.

Current payment tools, whether bank cards, WeChat or Alipay, are all bound to the bank account system, and bank account opening requires real-name registration, which cannot meet the demand for anonymity.

The digital RMB is loosely coupled with bank accounts, which can technically achieve anonymity for small amounts.

At the same time, the digital RMB also has the effect of reducing transaction costs, improving credit investigation efficiency, and enhancing payment convenience.

So, will the digital RMB replace paper money? Experts pointed out that the central bank's digital RMB will replace part of the cash, but will not completely replace paper money, especially the elderly group still has demand for paper money, so in the foreseeable future, digital RMB, RMB banknotes and coins will coexist for a long time.

At present, the testing process of the digital RMB is accelerating, and the six major state-owned banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China, have begun to promote digital RMB currency wallets.