Guojin Securities: The digital yuan is moving from the M0 era to the M1 era with more comprehensive risk protection

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Guojin Securities released a research report saying that the “15th Five-Year Plan” mentions steady development of the digital yuan. As a national financial infrastructure, the digital yuan is expected to optimize the transmission efficiency of monetary policy and help the RMB internationalization process. The development of digital yuan and the broadening of application scenarios are also expected to bring payment-side opportunities and promising benefits to related industries and targets.

Guojin Securities's main views are as follows:

Incident Overview

The People's Bank of China issued the “Action Plan on Further Strengthening the Digital RMB Management Service System and Related Financial Infrastructure Construction”. The next-generation digital yuan measurement framework, management system, operation mechanism and ecosystem will be officially implemented on January 1, 2026.

The digital yuan moved from the M0 era to the M1 era

Previously, the digital yuan was mainly positioned at M0 and did not pay interest. According to reports, the “Action Plan” is clear: banking institutions pay interest on customers' real-name digital renminbi wallet balances and abide by self-regulatory agreements on deposit interest rate pricing. The digital yuan of bank-type digital yuan business operators is incorporated into the reserve system framework management, and the digital yuan wallet balances established by them are uniformly included in the deposit reserve deposit base. Non-bank payment institutions participating in digital yuan operations implement 100% digital yuan security deposits. Digital yuan wallet balances are separately included in the corresponding currency level according to liquidity. This mechanism marks the entry of the digital yuan into the 2.0 version of the deposit era.

Technical architecture upgrade

The “Action Plan” clarifies the digital plan of “account system+coin chain+smart contract”, proposes to upgrade the existing account system, promote the application of emerging technology on the basis of new accounts (digital yuan wallets), enhance the level of digitalization and intelligence in various aspects of RMB issuance, circulation, and payment, upgrade the digital RMB smart contract ecosystem service platform, and support the construction of an open source smart contract ecosystem.

Re-optimization of the “two-tier architecture”

At the top level of central banks, digital yuan is the central bank responsible for formulating business rules and technical standards, and undertakes the planning, construction and operation of related infrastructure. On the second-tier business operator side, commercial banks open digital yuan wallets for individuals and organizations on their own interface, are responsible for the customer's digital yuan security, provide circulation payment services, assume corresponding compliance and anti-money laundering responsibilities, are included in the scope of deposit insurance, and enjoy the same security guarantees as deposits. The digital yuan provided to customers by non-bank payment institutions is exchanged by the customer with their own bank deposit. It is a liability of a non-bank payment institution and is subject to digital yuan security deposit supervision according to law.

More comprehensive risk protection

Banks can independently carry out asset liability management on digital yuan wallet balances, and deposit insurance provides the same security guarantee as deposits in accordance with law. The People's Bank of China established a digital yuan management committee to coordinate relevant business lines, carry out functional supervision within their respective areas of responsibility, and form joint efforts to ensure full coverage of functional supervision.

Risk warning: Policy progress falls short of expectations; digital currency technology risks; industry competition risks.