The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has issued a detailed "Action Plan" to enhance the management and financial infrastructure of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital yuan (e-CNY). The new framework, including a revamped management and operational mechanism, will be officially launched on January 1, 2026.
Deputy Governor of the PBOC, Lu Lei, outlined the plan's core attributes, emphasizing that the digital yuan will function as a measure of monetary value, store of value, and a tool for cross-border payments. He confirmed that the central bank will provide technical support and supervision. The plan builds on over a decade of development, referencing a two-tier operating system proposed in 2016 and extensive practical testing.
A key structural change involves the establishment of a Digital RMB Management Committee within the PBOC to coordinate business lines and conduct supervision. The guidelines also introduce a "two-tier architecture" that clarifies commercial banks holding digital yuan wallets will pay interest to clients based on their digital asset balances. Lu Lei described this as a "compatible incentive arrangement," allowing banks to independently manage the assets and liabilities of their digital yuan wallet balances.
Furthermore, the PBOC will implement several foundational changes: including digital yuan in bank deposit reserve requirements for the first time, and classifying digital wallets by liquidity levels. These measures represent a significant maturation of the project, which has seen transaction volumes exceed 1.8 trillion yuan (approximately $250 billion) since its pilot inception.
The announcement follows recent challenges for China's CBDC ambitions, including the withdrawal of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) from the multilateral cross-border payment platform mBridge a year ago due to sanctions circumvention concerns. Additionally, user adoption has faced bottlenecks due to competition from established mobile payment systems like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
Commercial banks, including major institutions like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and payment platforms are already preparing for the transition, with system upgrade deadlines set for late 2025.
