At 20:00:02 on December 11, the country's first e-commerce platform digital RMB (DC/EP) consumption was born, and a consumer in Suzhou successfully placed an order on JD.com.

This means that the much-watched 20 million yuan digital renminbi red envelope Suzhou pilot has officially started. According to previous disclosures, the "Double 12 Suzhou Shopping Festival" will distribute 20 million digital RMB consumption red envelopes to eligible Suzhou citizens, each with an amount of 200 yuan and a total of 100,000 red envelopes.

The author learned from authoritative sources that the combination of the digital renminbi pilot and the "Double 12 Suzhou Shopping Festival" indicates that the central bank is accelerating the promotion of digital renminbi to expand application scenarios, thereby promoting digital renminbi to enter thousands of households faster.

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Compared with the Shenzhen pilot, the amount of red envelopes issued in the Suzhou pilot is larger and the scope of use is wider. Merchants and designated online e-commerce companies that have completed the upgrade of digital RMB collection equipment within the Suzhou city are selected to participate in the activity There are nearly 10,000 merchants, covering shopping malls and supermarkets, daily retail, catering consumption, life services and other fields.

Relevant information on the "Su Zhoudao APP" shows that a wide range of merchants participated this time. For example, Xiangcheng Tianhong, Xiangcheng Fanhua and other popular merchants. Specifically, you can query by type or region, and even some merchants in Changshu, Zhangjiagang and other regions also participated.

From the point of view of participating merchants in the pilot program, Suzhou Xiangcheng District has the most merchants, reaching 5,184; Gusu District has 1,531 merchants; Kunshan City also has more than 1,000 merchants. Among them, there are many outlets for clothing, food, communication, travel, etc. Gas stations, pharmacies, and food stores such as Laiyifen are popular choices. China Mobile also has a discount of 200 yuan for recharge and "additional 40".

On the "Digital RMB APP", the six major state-owned banks have digital wallets for Suzhou citizens to choose from. This pilot also introduces online consumption scenarios for the first time. JD.com will support Suzhou citizens to use digital renminbi to pay when purchasing self-operated products, and cash on delivery can also be accepted in Xiangcheng District.

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With the help of "Double 12", a festival with huge traffic, the digital renminbi has entered the public eye and has become the object of "competition" by the whole people, laying the foundation for the real launch of the digital renminbi in the future. As the key infrastructure of digital finance, digital renminbi The landing of the renminbi will also help to further consolidate the foundation for the development of China's digital economy and bring development opportunities to multiple industries or fields.

It is reported that among the third-party payment companies, only Lakala and UnionPay Commerce have signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Digital Currency Research Institute of the Central Bank. In the promotion process of the central bank's digital renminbi, third-party payment institutions are expected to usher in new development opportunities.

From the perspective of the strategic cooperation agreement, the Central Bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute plans to work with UnionPay Commerce to jointly study innovative applications in areas such as online and offline payment scenarios in the digital renminbi pilot test. The two parties will combine the existing business scenarios of UnionPay Commerce, based on the characteristics of the digital renminbi and the wallet ecosystem, to jointly research and expand the product functions and application scope of the digital renminbi, and promote the construction of the digital renminbi ecosystem.

In the eyes of industry insiders, the cooperation between the Central Bank’s Digital Currency Research Institute and Lakala and UnionPay Commerce aims to promote digital renminbi in a more convenient and efficient way.

"Issuing bank cards is a logic. It needs an APP and a merchant scene, which is in line with consumers' usage habits and is easier to accept." The industry insider said.

It is reported that in addition to the already announced scenes of Xiongan, Suzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen and the Winter Olympics, the digital renminbi will continue to add six new pilots in Shanghai, Changsha, Hainan, Qingdao, Dalian and Xi'an.

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E-wallet is expected to be the first to launch

"The current technical solution for digital currency electronic payment is firstly an account-based electronic wallet." A few days ago, Zhou Xiaochuan, the former governor of the People's Bank of China, said at the "Digital Financial Innovation and New Pattern of Economic Development" seminar.

The author learned from authoritative sources that e-wallets also have a hierarchical concept, and users are authenticated differently, with different permissions and functions.

In addition to electronic wallets, there are also QR codes used by merchants, NFC near-field contact transactions, bank cards in mobile phones, prepaid cards, etc.

"In the two-tier system of DC/EP, the People's Bank of China is on the first floor, and the second floor has commercial banks, telecom operators, and Internet payment platforms. They can cooperate or join forces, depending on their interest in payment products. and understanding of the technical framework.” Zhou Xiaochuan gave his own views on the central bank’s digital currency.

In Zhou Xiaochuan's view, the motivation of the second-tier organization is still very strong, knowing that there will be great opportunities for development, especially in terms of obtaining customers and business. In a big country like China, second-tier institutions can develop and pilot multiple programs in parallel. Disadvantages of multiple solutions, in the end there may be some troubles in interoperability, coordination, switching devices, etc. may be required. However, there may not be many different plans for actual implementation, because after the organizations have worked together, their understanding is relatively close, and their plans may eventually be merged.

Generally speaking, this is a two-tier architecture that can accommodate multiple schemes, and it attaches great importance to the retail system. This is a guide, but it is not intended to specifically promote a certain project. The retail system is valued because it is the foundation of the entire payment system. If the foundation is not well laid, other upper-layer applications may not stand firm.