On January 1, 2026, the interest-accrual mechanism for the digital renminbi officially came into effect, marking a shift in China’s central bank digital currency from “digital cash” to “digital deposits.” With this institutional innovation, the digital renminbi enters a new Phase 2.0 era.
Behind this transformation lies a precisely orchestrated top-level design. On December 29, 2025, Lu Lei, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China, published a signed article, confirming that the Action Plan on Further Strengthening the Digital Renminbi Management and Service System and Related Financial Infrastructure would officially take effect on January 1, 2026.
The simultaneous rollout of a new-generation measurement framework, management system, operational mechanisms and ecosystem has laid a solid institutional foundation for the functional upgrade of the digital renminbi. Multiple interviewees told Caijing that commercial banks—acting as operating institutions for the digital renminbi—need to upgrade and transform related systems, integrate digital renminbi accounts into existing business frameworks, and ultimately embed the digital renminbi into their current product systems.
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