12 new ones added! The number of digital RMB operating institutions has expanded to 22, with city commercial banks entering the market for the first time.

Each Daily Reporter | Zhang Shulin Each Daily Editor | Huang Sheng

On April 2, the People’s Bank of China officially announced that 12 additional bank-based digital renminbi business operation institutions have been added, and have been connected to the central bank’s digital renminbi system. With this, the total number of digital renminbi business operation institutions has expanded from the existing 10 to 22, and the construction of the digital renminbi ecosystem has entered a new stage.

The 12 newly added banks include 7 national joint-stock banks and 5 city commercial banks. This is also the first time that city commercial banks have entered the digital renminbi operation business.

Expansion of the operational footprint

The 12 newly added banks include 7 national joint-stock banks—China CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, China Minsheng Bank, 广发 Bank, Pudong Development Bank, and Zheshang Bank—as well as 5 city commercial banks—Ningbo Bank, Jiangsu Bank, Beijing Bank, Nanjing Bank, and Suzhou Bank.

In addition to the previously existing 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, WeBank, and Zheshang Bank, the pattern of digital renminbi business operation institutions has achieved an important expansion, reaching 22 institutions.

It is worth noting that this expansion had policy groundwork in advance. In October 2025, Pan Gongsheng, Governor of the People’s Bank of China, stated clearly at the opening ceremony of the Financial Street Forum annual conference that the next step will be to study and optimize the positioning of the digital renminbi within the monetary hierarchy, and support more commercial banks to become digital renminbi business operation institutions. The market generally believes that this expansion is the substantive implementation of that policy direction.

As of the end of November 2025, digital renminbi had cumulatively processed 3.48 billion transactions, with a total transaction amount of 16.7 trillion yuan. Through the digital renminbi app, 230 million personal wallets have been opened, and 18.84 million digital renminbi unit wallets have been opened. The multi-CBDC bridge (mBridge) has cumulatively processed 4,047 cross-border payment transactions, with a total transaction amount equivalent to 387.2 billion yuan, of which the share of transaction amounts in digital renminbi across different currency types is about 95.3%.

Digital renminbi enters the 2.0 era

This expansion of operation institutions coincides with the key window period when digital renminbi is comprehensively upgrading from the “1.0 cash era” to the “2.0 deposit money era.”

On December 29, 2025, Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China, wrote an article introducing that the People’s Bank of China issued the “Action Plan for Further Strengthening the Digital Renminbi Management and Service System and the Construction of Related Financial Infrastructure,” announcing that the new-generation digital renminbi measurement framework, management system, operating mechanism, and ecosystem would officially start implementation on January 1, 2026. Digital renminbi will thus move from the digital cash era into the digital deposit money era.

Lu Lei said that, under the new institutional arrangements, digital renminbi in customers’ wallets at commercial banks is, on an account basis, a liability of the commercial banks; this marks digital renminbi moving from the cash-based 1.0 version into the deposit-money-based 2.0 version. The action plan further clarified that banking institutions may pay interest on customers’实名 digital renminbi wallet balances, and must comply with the self-disciplinary agreement on deposit interest rate pricing. Wallet balances are also included within the scope of deposit insurance protection.

This transition fundamentally changes the underlying positioning of digital renminbi. Previously, digital renminbi’s M0 (cash in circulation) positioning did not pay interest, and the penetration in the high-frequency C-end payment market was weak; commercial banks only undertook the function of custody of funds. With the arrival of the 2.0 era, it has activated commercial banks’ internal drive to participate in the digital renminbi ecosystem.

Behind the expansion: improving accessibility and inclusiveness

In its expansion announcement, the central bank clearly stated “improving the accessibility and inclusiveness of digital renminbi services.” The expansion of institutional members also expands the reach of digital renminbi. The newly added 7 joint-stock banks have extensive branches and customer bases nationwide, while the 5 city commercial banks occupy important positions in regional economies and cooperate closely with local government affairs.

In the cross-border arena, the business platform for the international operating center of the digital renminbi has been officially put into operation, and has launched a digital renminbi cross-border digital payments platform, a digital renminbi blockchain service platform, and a digital asset platform.

Among them, the cross-border digital payments platform is based on supporting renminbi internationalization and cross-border use, exploring the use of legal tender digital currency to address pain points in traditional cross-border payments; the blockchain service platform is positioned to support standardized blockchain transaction routing and on-chain digital renminbi payment services; the digital asset platform is positioned to support the issuance, registration, custody, and compliant trading of digital assets on-chain.

The latter two platforms—the digital renminbi blockchain service platform and the digital asset platform—are built on the same blockchain base, enabling coordinated linkage between the two platforms. They support the delivery-versus-payment (DvP) settlement of securities and funds under a unified ledger, and explore feasible paths, within the existing regulatory framework, to improve the quality and efficiency of financial business services and reduce settlement risk.

The reporter also learned that the digital renminbi cross-border digital payments platform has now been upgraded to “CBETS,” supporting overseas participants to connect at a single point through the digital renminbi cross-border business gateway, directly accessing 7×24-hour intelligent digital payment services for both the on-chain and off-chain business platforms.

Cover image source: Each Daily Media Resource Library