Digital Yuan 2.0 Panorama: Institutional Leap After 167 Trillion Yuan Transaction Volume

In the last week of March 2026, several key developments unfolded on the digital renminbi landscape in China.

On March 20, the Shanghai Securities News reported that the digital renminbi operation agencies are expected to expand again, with 12 joint-stock and city commercial banks—including CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank—potentially qualifying to connect to the central bank’s digital renminbi system. This expansion would increase the number of operational agencies from the current 10 to 22 if implemented.

Almost simultaneously, the Jingan Branch of the Bank of Communications in Shanghai successfully launched its first digital renminbi cross-border currency bridge transaction under the Free Trade Zone sub-account unit, utilizing blockchain technology throughout to complete cross-border fund settlement. Two days later, Industrial Bank’s Changsha branch processed a cross-border payment of 270 million yuan for a key foreign trade enterprise in Hunan, setting a provincial record for the largest single transaction.

Just three months prior, on January 1, 2026, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank simultaneously announced that starting from that day, the balances of their digital renminbi real-name wallets would accrue interest at the same rate as demand deposits. This move was directly triggered by the December 29, 2025, release of the People’s Bank of China’s “Action Plan for Further Strengthening Digital Renminbi Management and Related Financial Infrastructure,” which officially launched the new measurement framework, management system, operational mechanism, and ecological system for digital renminbi on January 1, 2026.

The expansion of operation agencies, the rollout of currency bridge transactions, and the start of interest accrual on real-name wallets—all seemingly independent events—collectively point to a historic turning point: digital renminbi is evolving from a simple payment tool into a “systemic currency” that is interest-bearing, programmable, and manageable.

Since its inception in 2014, digital renminbi has undergone a full twelve-year journey, entering its 2.0 era in 2026. By the end of November 2025, total transaction volume had reached 16.7 trillion yuan, with 230 million personal wallets and 18.84 million corporate wallets opened. However, this 16.7 trillion figure is merely a record of past achievements; the real defining force shaping the future is the profound transformation currently underway.

1. Interest Implementation: From “Cash-Type 1.0” to “Deposit Currency 2.0”

To understand the essence of digital renminbi 2.0, one must revisit a fundamental question: what exactly is digital renminbi?

In the 1.0 era, digital renminbi was explicitly positioned as M0— a digital substitute for physical cash in circulation. This meant it did not accrue interest; once opened, it could only be used for payments and transfers, not for deposits or earning yields. This design maintained the “cash attribute” in monetary theory but revealed practical limitations: low user willingness to hold, lack of motivation for commercial banks to promote it, and limited scenario expansion.

Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China, described this transformation from “cash-type 1.0” to “deposit currency 2.0” as a significant institutional leap, with deeper implications than the words suggest.

On December 31, 2025, the six major banks—ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB, BOCOM, and Postal Savings Bank—announced that from January 1, 2026, the balances of their digital renminbi real-name wallets would accrue interest at the same rate as demand deposits, with interest calculated according to the bank’s prevailing rate. China Construction Bank specifically stated that interest on digital renminbi wallets would be based on its demand deposit rate, and revised the relevant service agreement accordingly. Bank of Communications clarified that interest would be paid on personal wallets of types one, two, and three, but not on type four anonymous wallets, which lack identifiable rights holders.

This fundamental change shifts the legal and monetary attributes of digital renminbi.

Legally, digital renminbi transitions from a “central bank liability” to a “bank liability.” Under the 1.0 framework, digital renminbi was a direct liability of the People’s Bank, with commercial banks merely acting as circulation channels, unable to include it on their balance sheets for asset management. Under the 2.0 framework, digital renminbi becomes an asset on commercial banks’ balance sheets, recognized as a liability—enabling banks to manage assets and liabilities based on digital renminbi, thus creating profit incentives.

In terms of monetary hierarchy, digital renminbi expands from M0 (cash in circulation) to M1 (narrow money) or M2 (broad money). This means digital renminbi is no longer just a cash substitute but possesses all the functions of deposits. As Dong Ximiao, Chief Researcher at Zhongan Credit, explained, the funds stored in digital renminbi wallets shift their legal attribute from being a liability of the People’s Bank to a liability of commercial banks.

This shift brings three substantial impacts:

• Interest “from nothing to something”: Wallet balances now accrue interest, allowing users to earn yields. Although the interest rate is modest, this change alters the holding logic of digital renminbi—from “spending immediately” to “potentially accumulating.”

• Financial services aligned with deposits: Future financial services for digital renminbi will gradually match those of traditional deposits, no longer limited to cash scenarios. More importantly, digital renminbi will be protected by deposit insurance, providing a dual safety net alongside the central bank’s credit guarantee.

• Bank responsibilities and rights: Previously, operational institutions bore responsibilities such as user expansion, scenario development, technical maintenance, anti-fraud measures, and compliance, but since digital renminbi was non-interest-bearing and off-balance-sheet, these efforts did not generate proportional profits. Moving forward, banks will be able to develop deposit, wealth management, and lending products based on digital renminbi, creating a “payment + finance” ecosystem.

This constitutes the first cornerstone of digital renminbi 2.0.

2. Widespread Adoption of Smart Contracts: RMB Learns to “Execute Automatically”

If interest implementation addresses “whether digital renminbi is worth holding,” then smart contracts solve the question of “how to use it better.”

On February 6, 2026, a landmark event took place at the project department of Beite Construction and Installation Engineering Co., Ltd. in Chengdu, marking a systemic technological shift in wage payments for migrant workers. This was the first-ever deployment of a digital renminbi smart contract-based wage payment system for migrant workers in Sichuan, China.

The technical framework was jointly overseen by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China, Sichuan Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and Chengdu High-tech Zone Management Committee, with implementation by Yizhi Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., and Sichuan branch of Bank of Communications. The payroll relied on the “Anxin Zhu” platform’s fully digitalized payroll system, integrating “task—attendance—evaluation—recording” transparent management, linking construction task orders with digital renminbi smart contracts to create a closed loop of business flow and fund flow.

The core logic: the system automatically triggers contract execution based on trusted frontline data, ensuring wages are directly transferred to migrant workers’ digital renminbi wallets, eliminating intermediate interception or misappropriation, and fundamentally solving longstanding issues of “confusing accounts” and “separate person and card.” In Sichuan’s first batch of digital renminbi smart contract wage payments, 1.04 million yuan was paid to 104 workers, achieving precise, real-time wage delivery.

At the scene, worker representative Wang Tonglin said simply, “Now wages go straight to my phone, with clear details. No more worries about cards being deducted or money delayed. I work more confidently and peacefully.”

This demonstrates the value of smart contracts in improving livelihoods. In broader industrial scenarios, the potential of smart contracts is accelerating.

Latest data shows that by the end of January 2026, digital renminbi smart contracts had been piloted in areas such as prepayment management, supply chain finance, corporate group finance, and subsidy distribution, with a total of 486,400 contracts signed and a cumulative transaction amount of 316 million yuan. Behind these figures lies a clear trajectory of smart contracts moving from “concept validation” to “scaled application.”

The core value of digital renminbi smart contracts lies in their “programmability.” Traditional payment tools can only transfer funds point-to-point, but smart contracts embed preset conditions and rules—funds are only released when specific conditions are met, and triggered events cause automatic transfers to designated accounts. This “conditional trigger and automatic execution” capability transforms digital renminbi from a passive payment tool into an active asset manager.

In prepayment scenarios, smart contracts can prevent merchants from absconding with funds—prepaid money is locked in the contract, only releasing to merchants after actual consumption. In supply chain finance, they enable “cash on delivery” automation—once goods are accepted, payment automatically transfers from buyer to seller, without manual intervention.

A vivid example is Guangxi Mashan’s timber supply chain platform. On March 11, 2026, Liu Fan, a sales representative at Guangxi Nanning Linyun Zhiliang Technology Co., Ltd., received a bank message confirming that a 33,000 yuan timber transaction from Mashan was settled in seconds. This was Guangxi’s first timber supply chain settlement via digital renminbi 2.0.

Liu Fan explained that previously, transporting a load of timber could take a week or even half a month for payment, risking cash flow issues. Now, from contract signing, receipt verification, invoicing to payment—all are online, with funds arriving instantly. As of March 11, 2026, this open digital supply chain platform, covering procurement, processing, sales, and settlement, has served 70 forestry enterprises in the region, with total settlements exceeding 70 million yuan.

Platform operator Ma Banghan, CEO of Guangxi Hongsheng Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd., explained: “We integrated data from forestry and natural resources departments to support compliant invoicing for farmers and brokers, solving industry’s long-standing ‘tax bottleneck’ problem.”

This is the second cornerstone of digital renminbi 2.0.

3. Breakthrough in Currency Bridge: From “Traditional Cross-Border Settlement” to “Point-to-Point Clearing”

If domestic applications are the “internal cultivation” of digital renminbi, then cross-border payments are the “litmus test” for its 2.0 maturity.

On March 22, 2026, the Jingan Branch of Bank of Communications Shanghai successfully completed its first digital renminbi currency bridge transaction under the Free Trade Zone sub-account unit, with full guidance and support from the bank’s international, transaction banking, operations, and channels departments. This marked a significant achievement in cross-border financial innovation.

What makes this transaction special is: digital renminbi was used as the core currency for cross-border settlement, relying on the “Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge” (mBridge) system to settle funds, with blockchain technology ensuring traceability and verifiability of transaction information. Compared to traditional methods, this approach simplifies processes, improves settlement efficiency, and reduces operational costs for enterprises.

Two days later, Industrial Bank’s Changsha branch processed a 270 million yuan cross-border payment for a key foreign trade enterprise in Hunan— the largest such transaction in the province. An official from the bank noted that traditional large-value cross-border payments involve multiple steps and low efficiency, but the currency bridge’s point-to-point, real-time settlement significantly reduces process delays and costs.

The core of these transactions is the scaled application of the “Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge” (mBridge) project.

Developed jointly by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China, the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub (Hong Kong), the Central Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, mBridge aims to create a cross-border payment solution centered on central bank digital currencies. Its strategic importance cannot be overstated.

Traditional cross-border settlement relies on correspondent banking—funds from China to Thailand, for example, may pass through multiple intermediary banks, taking days and incurring high, opaque costs. The currency bridge’s underlying logic is to enable direct transfer of central bank digital currencies between central banks—when China’s digital renminbi and Thailand’s CBDC are interconnected on the same platform, direct peer-to-peer settlement becomes possible.

This transformation dramatically boosts efficiency.

• Settlement time shrinks from days to seconds: Traditional cross-border payments take 2-5 days; currency bridge transactions can settle in seconds, greatly improving capital turnover efficiency—270 million yuan no longer “sleeps” in transit but is instantly available.

• Cost reduction: Intermediary banks charge fees and exchange margins; currency bridge’s direct settlement cuts out middlemen, minimizing transaction costs.

• Traceability and verifiability: Blockchain technology ensures every transaction leaves an immutable record, enhancing anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism financing, and compliance oversight.

By the end of 2025, the mBridge project had processed transactions totaling 387.2 billion yuan. With the ongoing institutional upgrades of digital renminbi and increased participation from commercial banks, this figure is expected to rise exponentially.

The Shanghai branch of Bank of Communications stated that this successful deployment reflects the bank’s proactive response to the “Action Plan,” exemplifying how fintech can empower the real economy, support the “five major articles” of financial development, and promote RMB internationalization. The bank plans to leverage this milestone to deepen technological implementation and scenario innovation, meeting the dual needs of “going out” and “bringing in.”

Similarly, Industrial Bank’s Changsha branch expressed commitment to further developing digital renminbi scenarios, expanding cross-border settlement channels, and supporting high-quality economic development in Hunan through high-level financial services.

This is the third cornerstone of digital renminbi 2.0.

4. Ecosystem Expansion: From “10 Operational Agencies” to “22 Co-Constructed Networks”

On March 20, 2026, the Shanghai Securities News reported that the number of digital renminbi operation agencies might expand, with 12 commercial banks potentially qualifying to connect to the central bank’s digital renminbi system.

These include: CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, Minsheng Bank, Guangfa Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Zhejiang Commercial Bank, as well as Ningbo Bank, Jiangsu Bank, Beijing Bank, Nanjing Bank, and Suzhou Bank. If this expansion proceeds, the number of operational agencies will increase from 10 to 22.

The current 10 agencies are: ICBC, ABC, BOC, CCB, BOCOM, Postal Savings Bank, China Merchants Bank, Industrial Bank, WeBank, and MYbank. This list covers the six major state-owned banks, two joint-stock banks, and two internet banks. The expanded 22 will include more nationwide joint-stock banks and leading city commercial banks.

The signal for expansion was already evident in 2025. In November, PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng explicitly supported more banks becoming operational agencies during the Financial Street Forum, laying the groundwork for subsequent expansion.

A city commercial bank official confirmed that they have received relevant instructions and are working to complete system development, testing, acceptance, and deployment—indicating that the expansion is now actively progressing beyond policy discussions.

The significance of expanding operational agencies goes far beyond increasing the number of participating banks.

• Enhanced reach: More agencies mean broader access, especially in local and regional scenarios, and among small and micro enterprises. City commercial banks can bring digital renminbi services to grassroots markets, fulfilling diverse local needs.

• Product innovation and competition: Different banks have unique customer bases, business strengths, and technical capabilities. Gaining operational qualification will prompt them to develop differentiated digital renminbi products and services, accelerating ecosystem growth through competition.

• Sustainable development: More agencies strengthen the commercial viability of digital renminbi. Under compatible incentive arrangements, banks can manage assets and liabilities, develop value-added financial products, and sustain operations, invigorating the entire ecosystem.

Industry expectations for expansion are now becoming reality.

5. Cutting-Edge Integration: Digital Renminbi’s Cross-Progression with AI and Blockchain

The most profound strategic significance of digital renminbi 2.0 may not lie solely in its capabilities but in how it enables the integration of “AI + blockchain.”

During the 2026 National Two Sessions, NPC member Zhuang Zixiang proposed leveraging Hong Kong’s international financial hub status to launch an interconnected digital renminbi overseas wallet, allowing international users to bind foreign bank cards for consumption. This reflects digital renminbi’s evolution from a domestic payment tool to an international financial infrastructure.

Even more imaginative is the cross-fusion of digital renminbi with AI and blockchain.

As AI agents begin to autonomously handle payments and manage assets, they require a trusted, efficient, programmable currency system. Digital renminbi’s smart contract functions can provide an ideal foundation—AI agents can automatically trigger payments based on preset rules, without human intervention, with all processes traceable and verifiable.

When real-world assets (RWA) start tokenizing, they need a stable, compliant value anchor. Digital renminbi, backed by national credit, inherently possesses this attribute. Under the “strictly domestic, record abroad” framework outlined in Document No. 42, digital renminbi has the potential to serve as a settlement currency in future compliant RWA scenarios, acting as a stable bridge connecting on-chain digital assets with off-chain real economy entities.

A recent statement from the Digital Renminbi Operation Management Center indicated that future efforts will focus on enriching system services, collaborating with member banks to explore innovative applications of digital renminbi smart contracts, and providing more intelligent services for industry development and social governance.

This may reveal the most anticipated vision of the digital renminbi 2.0 era: it is no longer just “money,” but the underlying protocol of the intelligent economy era.

Looking back at the week of March 2026: news of operational agency expansion, the successful implementation of currency bridge transactions, ongoing smart contract scenarios, and interest accumulation in real-name wallets—all these seemingly scattered events converge into a single signal: digital renminbi is no longer a “pilot experiment,” but a national-level “systemic monetary infrastructure” in the digital civilization era.

From its 2014 start to the 2.0 era in 2026, digital renminbi has traveled twelve years. The 16.7 trillion yuan transaction volume is a past achievement; interest accrual, smart contracts, cross-border currency bridges, and expanded agencies are the tickets to the future.

As the “Action Plan” clearly states—digital renminbi’s role is to “improve the central bank’s system and build a scientific, sound monetary policy system,” and it is a “key part of the overall goal to accelerate the building of a strong financial nation.”

This is a moment to re-understand digital renminbi. It is not a simple replacement for paper money, nor just another mobile payment tool, but a new systemic monetary infrastructure—interest-bearing, programmable, cross-border, and manageable.

When it becomes the “blood system” of the digital civilization, digital renminbi will truly complete its historic leap.

And this is only the beginning of the 2.0 era.