Editing Renminbi (section)

=== Digital renminbi ===
{{Main|Digital renminbi}}
In October 2019, China's central bank, [[People's Bank of China|PBOC]], announced that a [[digital renminbi]] was going to be released after years of preparation.<ref name=nikkeiasia-20191231>{{cite news |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Currencies/China-s-digital-yuan-takes-shape-with-new-encryption-law |title=China's digital yuan takes shape with new encryption law |last=Tabeta |first=Shunsuke |website=Nikkei Asia |date=31 December 2019 |access-date=11 October 2020 |archive-date=14 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214112746/https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Markets/Currencies/China-s-digital-yuan-takes-shape-with-new-encryption-law |url-status=live }}</ref> This version of the currency, also called DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2019/11/20191106-3/|title=Hong Kong Monetary Authority – Hong Kong FinTech Week 2019|last=Authority|first=Hong Kong Monetary|website=Hong Kong Monetary Authority|language=en|access-date=10 November 2019|archive-date=5 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205212717/https://www.hkma.gov.hk/eng/news-and-media/press-releases/2019/11/20191106-3/|url-status=live}}</ref> can be "decoupled" from the banking system to give visiting tourists a taste of the nation's burgeoning [[cashless society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3036543/chinas-digital-currency-tsar-says-e-payment-platforms-may|title=Digital yuan tsar gives green light for tourists to go cashless in China|date=6 November 2019|website=South China Morning Post|language=en|access-date=10 November 2019|archive-date=5 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205231544/https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3036543/chinas-digital-currency-tsar-says-e-payment-platforms-may|url-status=live}}</ref>  The announcement received a variety of responses: some believe it is more about domestic control and surveillance.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-markets-digital-currency-idUSKBN1XB3QP|title=China's proposed digital currency more about policing than progress|date=1 November 2019|work=Reuters|access-date=10 November 2019|language=en|archive-date=5 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205231509/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-markets-digital-currency-idUSKBN1XB3QP|url-status=live}}</ref> Some argue that the real barriers to internationalisation of the renminbi are China's capital controls, which it has no plans to remove. Maximilian Kärnfelt, an expert at the [[Mercator Institute for China Studies]], said that a digital renminbi "would not banish many of the problems holding the renminbi back from more use globally". He went on to say, "Much of China's financial market is still not open to foreigners and [[property right]]s remain fragile."<ref name="ft.c_Virtual_control">{{cite web |title=Virtual control: the agenda behind China's new digital currency |last1=Kynge |first1=James |last2=Yu |first2=Sun |newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |date=16 February 2021 |access-date=20 February 2021 |url= https://www.ft.com/content/7511809e-827e-4526-81ad-ae83f405f623 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/7511809e-827e-4526-81ad-ae83f405f623 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The PBOC has filed more than 80 patents surrounding the integration of a [[digital currency]] system, choosing to embrace the [[blockchain]] technology. The patents reveal the extent of China's digital currency plans. The patents, seen and verified by the ''[[Financial Times]]'', include proposals related to the issuance and supply of a central bank digital currency, a system for interbank settlements that uses the currency, and the integration of digital currency wallets into existing retail bank accounts. Several of the 84 patents reviewed by the ''Financial Times'' indicate that China may plan to [[algorithm]]ically adjust the supply of a central bank digital currency based on certain triggers, such as loan [[interest rate]]s. Other patents are focused on building digital currency [[Smart card|chip cards]] or digital currency wallets that banking consumers could potentially use, which would be linked directly to their bank accounts. The patent filings also point to the proposed '[[tokenomics]]' being considered by the DCEP working group. Some patents show plans towards programmed inflation control mechanisms. While the majority of the patents are attributed to the PBOC's Digital Currency Research Institute, some are attributed to state-owned corporations or subsidiaries of the Chinese central government.<ref name=ft-20200212>{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/f10e94cc-4d74-11ea-95a0-43d18ec715f5 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/f10e94cc-4d74-11ea-95a0-43d18ec715f5 |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-status=live |title=Patents reveal extent of China's digital currency plans |author1=Hannah Murphy |author2=Yuan Yang |newspaper=Financial Times |url-access=subscription |date=12 February 2020 |access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref>

Uncovered by the [[Chamber of Digital Commerce]] (an American non-profit advocacy group), their contents shed light on Beijing's mounting efforts to digitise the renminbi, which has sparked alarm in the West and spurred central bankers around the world to begin exploring similar projects.<ref name=ft-20200212/> Some commentators have said that the U.S., which has no current plans to issue a government-backed digital currency, risks falling behind China and risking its dominance in the global financial system.<ref>{{cite web|date=17 March 2021|title=Is the US worried it is falling behind China's digital currency?|url=https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3125658/china-digital-currency-us-worried-it-falls-behind-curve-race|access-date=9 April 2021|website=South China Morning Post|language=en|archive-date=24 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224205538/https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3125658/china-digital-currency-us-worried-it-falls-behind-curve-race|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Victor Shih]], a China expert and professor at the [[University of California San Diego]], said that merely introducing a digital currency "doesn't solve the problem that some people holding renminbi offshore will want to sell that renminbi and exchange it for the dollar", as the dollar is considered to be a safer asset.<ref name="qz.c_Why_China's">{{cite web |title=The same problems plaguing the yuan will plague China's digital currency |last=Hui |first=Mary |publisher=[[Quartz (publication)|Quartz]] |date=10 September 2020 |access-date=11 April 2021 |url=https://qz.com/1899402/why-chinas-digital-yuan-wont-internationalize-the-renminbi/ |archive-date=10 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110233132/https://qz.com/1899402/why-chinas-digital-yuan-wont-internationalize-the-renminbi/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Eswar Prasad]], an economics professor at [[Cornell University]], said that the digital renminbi "will hardly put a dent in the dollar's status as the dominant global reserve currency" due to the United States' "economic dominance, deep and liquid capital markets, and still-robust institutional framework".<ref name="qz.c_Why_China's"/><ref name="proj_China's_Digital">{{cite web |title=China's Digital Currency Will Rise but Not Rule |last=Prasad |first=Eswar |publisher=[[Project Syndicate]] |date=25 August 2020 |access-date=11 April 2021 |url=https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-digital-currency-will-not-threaten-dollar-by-eswar-prasad-2020-08 |archive-date=14 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914045004/https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-digital-currency-will-not-threaten-dollar-by-eswar-prasad-2020-08 |url-status=live }}</ref> The U.S. dollar's share as a [[reserve currency]] is above 60%, while that of the renminbi is about 2%.<ref name="qz.c_Why_China's"/>

In April 2020, ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported that the digital currency [[e-RMB]] had been adopted into multiple cities' monetary systems and "some government employees and [[public servants]] [will] receive their salaries in the digital currency from May. ''The Guardian'' quoted a ''[[China Daily]]'' report which stated "A sovereign digital currency provides a functional alternative to the dollar settlement system and blunts the impact of any sanctions or threats of exclusion both at a country and company level. It may also facilitate integration into globally traded currency markets with a reduced risk of politically inspired disruption."<ref name=guardian-20200428>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/28/china-starts-major-trial-of-state-run-digital-currency |title=China starts major trial of state-run digital currency |first=Helen |last=Davidson |newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 April 2020 |access-date=3 May 2020 |archive-date=17 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211217233146/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/28/china-starts-major-trial-of-state-run-digital-currency |url-status=live }}</ref> There were talks of testing out the digital renminbi in the [[2022 Winter Olympics|Beijing Winter Olympics]] in 2022, but China's overall timetable for rolling out the digital currency was unclear.<ref>{{cite web|date=2 June 2020|title=What is China's new digital currency all about?|url=https://www.kitco.com/news/2020-06-02/What-is-China-s-new-digital-currency-all-about.html|access-date=3 June 2020|website=Kitco News|archive-date=9 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309090219/https://www.kitco.com/news/2020-06-02/What-is-China-s-new-digital-currency-all-about.html|url-status=live}}</ref>