


































Economics, Law and Policy 
ISSN 2576-2060 (Print) ISSN 2576-2052 (Online) 

Vol. 6, No. 3, 2023 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elp 

41 
 

Original Paper 

Research on the Current Situation, Prospects and 

Countermeasures of Digital RMB 

Chuan Lin
1,2

 & Xinyi Xia
2
 

1
 School of International Finance and Trade, Sichuan International Studies University, Chongqing 

400030, China 

2
 Center for Country Economics and International Business Studies, Sichuan International Studies 

University, Chongqing 400030, China  

 

Received: November 1, 2023  Accepted: November 20, 2023  Online Published: November 30, 2023 

doi:10.22158/elp.v6n3p41                    URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elp.v6n3p41 

 

Supported by: Sichuan International Studies University (sisu 202007). 

 

Abstract 

In the economic environment of global economic recession, weak consumption and weakened 

momentum of economic recovery, due to the impact of the prolonged epidemic, the global economy has 

become more polarized, and the development of China’s digital RMB has also fallen into difficulties, 

and the complex international environment has led to China’s economic development is relatively 

unstable; however, because the world is entering the era of informationization, the development of the 

digital RMB is imminent. Combined with the background of economic recovery in the post epidemic 

era, this paper analyzes and summarizes the current situation of digital RMB at this stage, studies the 

existing deficiencies of digital RMB, and ultimately puts forward four relevant countermeasures and 

targeted recommendations to promote the development of digital RMB, which mainly include 

strengthening the internationalization of RMB, continuing to make efforts to reduce the difficulties in 

payment, improving the relevant technology, and strengthening the measures of market supervision. 

Keywords 

Digital RMB, Optimization Strategy, Internationalization, Payment Dilemma 

 

 

 

 

 



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1. Introduction 

Nowadays, the global macroeconomic situation is grim, and digital currencies have become a popular 

trend in the development of the global financial sector. Up to now, more than 110 countries and regions 

have begun to carry out central bank digital currency research and development, trial and wide-scale 

use and other related work to varying degrees. In 2022, China has experienced a complex and volatile 

external situation, such as the Ukraine crisis, soaring inflation, and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate 

hike, as well as the internal risks of recurring epidemics and economic downturn. Therefore, at the 

beginning of 2023, China’s economic situation is unstable for the time being, but due to the changes in 

the external environment and the gradual emergence of the effects of China’s policies, China’s 

economy is also slowly picking up, and China’s economic growth rate will also show the trend of the 

front low and the back high, and the gradual climb. Accompanied by the gradual recovery and 

strengthening of China’s economic strength in recent years and the level of opening up to the outside 

world, the international status of the RMB has been enhanced, and the internationalization of the RMB 

has broad prospects for development. At present, seizing the opportunity of the digital economy era and 

continuously promoting the normalization and internationalization of the digital RMB is inevitably the 

trend of the times. It is thus clear that vigorously promoting the internationalization of the digital RMB 

is a correct strategy in line with China’s national conditions and policies. At the same time, in terms of 

national policy, the report of the 20th Party Congress proposes to promote the internationalization of 

RMB in an orderly manner. Therefore, vigorously promoting the development of the 

internationalization of the RMB is one of the more important development directions that our country 

is now actively promoting. For China, in the future, the development of digital RMB can be achieved 

by vigorously exerting the core competitive advantages of national endorsement and issuance by the 

central bank, so as to explore convenient, sustainable and widely-used payment channels, promote the 

landing of a larger scale, and empower the high-quality development of the real economy, and at the 

same time, carry out the pilot of cross-border payment and international cooperation, and actively seek 

partners from abroad to accelerate the internationalization of the RMB through a combination of 

measures. However, in the process of the development of digital RMB, it still faces many dilemmas, 

for example, from the perspective of the long term, the development of digital RMB is a gradual 

process, which requires a longer period of time. At the same time, there are still some problems in the 

promotion and use, network technology and information supervision, which hinder the rapid and steady 

development of digital RMB. 

Based on the current situation of the global central bank’s digital currency and the recent situation of 

the digital RMB, combining the global economic situation and the domestic economy, policies and 

other aspects, this paper profoundly researches the current situation of the digital RMB and the 

dilemmas it currently faces, comprehensively analyzes the problems related to the landing, promotion 

and development of the digital RMB, and puts forward four strategies on how to optimize the 

development of the digital RMB, in order to achieve the purpose of continuing to improve and 



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strengthen the full development of the digital RMB, so as to further improve our country’s international 

status. 

In the existing literature, for the current digital economy environment, many scholars have also done 

corresponding research. For example, for the current situation of digital RMB, Fang Ming (2023) found 

through a study on the demand for cross-border RMB that the demand for cross-border RMB has been 

rising in key regions and areas as of February 2023; Shen (2022) argued that the emergence of digital 

currencies is conducive to the integration of the international economy; and scholars such as Song 

Qinghua (2022) argued that the development of digital RMB has a profound impact on the monetary 

policy of the payment system and financial stability have far-reaching impacts. Regarding the existing 

problems of digital RMB, numerous scholars have also conducted research, for example, Wang 

Weiling (2023) proposes through her research that the promotion of digital RMB faces the obstacles of 

increased costs and usage habits; Li Liza and Wendy (2022) believe that at present, there is still a 

certain degree of incompatibility between the digital RMB and cross-border payment mechanisms; 

Jiang (2023) proposes that numerous countries’ digital financial new infrastructures are still to be 

improved. As for the development strategy of digital RMB, numerous scholars at home and abroad 

have put forward different suggestions; Lily Zhang (2022) suggests that the information security 

system of digital RMB needs to be further improved; Zhou Guangyou and Yang Jiemeng (2022) 

suggest that they should actively participate in the global governance of digital finance, enable 

cross-border legal tender digital currency cooperation, and promote the internationalization of digital 

RMB. In the analysis of the above literature, it is found that most scholars propose that there are many 

existing problems and difficulties in the development of digital RMB, and on the basis of which they 

put forward corresponding optimization strategies. However, the combination of existing problems and 

solution strategies of digital RMB is still a little bit lacking, therefore, this paper will combine its 

current situation and problems to study, so as to put forward corresponding optimization strategies. 

Based on the above analysis, this paper mainly puts forward the development prospect of digital RMB 

and the analysis of existing problems and countermeasures for the development of digital RMB through 

the PEST analysis of the current situation of digital RMB. The innovation of this paper is that, through 

the analysis of the current situation of digital RMB, and based on the PEST analysis of the advantages 

and disadvantages of digital RMB respectively, the whole aspect and multi-angle profound research, 

and finally put forward and about optimizing the development of digital RMB development road 

strategy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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2. PEST Analysis of the Current Status of Digital RMB Development 

2.1 Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis Based on the Political Environment 

2.1.1 Advantages 

(1) Strong policy support 

In his report to the 20th Party Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that high-quality 

development is the primary task of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way. At the 

same time, he also pointed out that it is necessary to stimulate the vitality of the digital economy, 

enhance the effectiveness of the digital government, optimize the digital social environment, build a 

pattern of digital cooperation, build a firm barrier of digital security, and let the digital civilization 

benefit the people of all countries. At present and in the next period of time, the primary task of 

China’s monetary policy is to stabilize growth and expand domestic demand. Therefore, in the next 

period of time, China has the conditions to maintain normal monetary policy for as long as possible and 

maintain currency stability. 

(2) Political stability of the country 

Under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China has a stable political 

situation, stability and unity, and has taken a road of modernization with Chinese characteristics. Under 

the leadership of the CPC, based on the objective reality of China’s huge population size, with the goal 

requirement of common prosperity for all people, and the endogenous characteristics of coordinating 

material civilization and spiritual civilization, harmonious coexistence of human beings and nature, and 

taking the road of peaceful development, a solid material and technological foundation is the 

fundamental prerequisite for the modernization process of the Chinese style. Under the correct strategic 

deployment of the State’s economic policy, the Chinese characteristics of China’s socialist 

modernization have become more prominent, and more historic achievements and historic changes 

have been made in economic construction. This is all a reflection of our government’s management 

system and management ability, which has also laid a solid political foundation for the further 

development of China’s digital RMB. 

To sum up, promoting new breakthroughs in high-quality economic development, realizing a 

significant leap in economic strength, scientific and technological strength, and comprehensive national 

power, and constantly consolidating the material and technological foundation have become the 

essential requirements of and the primary task facing the process of Chinese-style modernization, and 

the strong support of national policies and the stability of the country’s political situation have laid a 

solid foundation for the digital RMB, and the prosperous development of the digital RMB is just 

around the corner. 

 

 

 

 



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2.1.2 Disadvantages 

(1) Low degree of RMB internationalization 

Although China has shown a certain degree of growth in all aspects of trade, investment and currency 

exchange in recent years, China is still at a low level in terms of the degree of RMB 

internationalization. 

As of February 2023, according to the SWIFT report, the proportion of RMB in the international 

payment and clearing system is not high, accounting for only 2.19% as a payment currency, which is 

far lower than that of the US dollar, the euro and the British pound (the combined proportion of the 

former three exceeds 80%). Meanwhile, the RMB’s market share in cross-border trade finance business 

was 4.47% in February, ranking third. According to the RMB Internationalization Report 2022, the 

amount of RMB cross-border receipts and payments in the first half of 2022 was 20.32 trillion yuan, 

rising to 49.1% of the total cross-border receipts and payments in local and foreign currencies in the 

same period. Furthermore, as of 2023 RMB is only widely used in some countries, for example, less 

than 10% of international trade settlements in Hong Kong, China, are settled in RMB, which shows 

that RMB is not sufficiently used in cross-border trade and investment; more importantly, since 

China’s financial system is not yet perfect, the degree of support for the internationalization of RMB is 

still very low. 

(2) Bullied by international hegemony 

As the development of central bank digital currencies will significantly enhance financial freedom, 

central bank digital currencies will eventually become part of international reserve assets (Song, 2022). 

However, today, when international commodities and international trade are dominated by the U.S. 

dollar, the digital RMB developed by China is undoubtedly a challenge to the U.S. dollar. In order to 

maintain the world monetary system with the US dollar as the main currency, in international trade, the 

western developed countries, which mainly use the US dollar, want to implement financial hegemony, 

impose economic blockade and financial sanctions on China, and try to use SWIFT as the main 

settlement method for cross-border settlement and seize the fruits of China’s economic development 

with the advantage of ultra-low price. Due to the rapid development of China’s digital RMB, the 

western developed countries led by the United States, by virtue of their scientific and technological and 

financial advantages, have tried to cut leeks by various means, obstructing or even preventing our 

country, in order to achieve the purpose of lowering the prices of commodities in China’s foreign trade, 

so as to obtain huge profits, and then exploiting the fruits of our country’s economic development. 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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2.2 Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis Based on the Economic Environment 

2.2.1 Advantages 

(1) Favorable macroeconomic environment 

In 2022, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the overall performance of global consumption 

is weak, and the momentum of global economic recovery is weakening. Affected by the long-term 

epidemic, although the global economic differentiation is increasing, but thanks to China’s monetary 

and fiscal policies, the impact on the economy is relatively controllable. But now due to the existence 

of the global industrial chain important processing and manufacturing links of some emerging 

economies are still insufficient production problems, and thus exacerbate the global supply and demand 

imbalance. In 2023, China’s epidemic has been strong and effective control, China’s total economic 

output solidly stepped up to 100 trillion yuan, accounting for the proportion of the world economy 

increased by 7.2 percentage points to 18.5%; per capita GDP and high-income national standard gap 

narrowed considerably, the socio-economic began to gradually recover, the macroeconomic 

environment as a whole is gradually improving. 

(2) Accelerated digital transformation of enterprises 

As the state strongly supports the digital transformation of enterprises, many relevant economic 

policies have been introduced. As a new digital financial infrastructure, digital RMB is a modernization 

path with comparative advantages to accelerate the development of enterprises by combining digital 

RMB in the economic context of accelerating enterprise digital transformation. The sharing 

characteristics of digital RMB superimposed on the application of smart contracts, blockchain and 

other technologies can help the integration of business and finance, upgrading of fund management, 

and the new structure of application scenarios of state-owned enterprises from the level of digital 

technology, which is conducive to promoting the digital transformation and upgrading of state-owned 

enterprises’ finance (Zhou Xuefei, 2022). In summary, it can be concluded that in the era of digital 

economy, digital RMB has a better development prospect. 

2.2.2 Disadvantages 

(1) More pressure on domestic economic development 

At present, the contradiction between the people’s growing needs for a better life and the unbalanced 

and inadequate development is the main contradiction of the current Chinese society. Under the 

combined influence of many factors at home and abroad, China’s economic growth has slowed down in 

recent years has become the new normal, and the economic development in 2023 is facing the triple 

pressure of demand contraction, supply shock and weakening expectations, and how to effectively cope 

with this challenge has become an urgent scientific problem to be solved at present. 

(2) Economic market mechanism to be improved 

Since the digital RMB has no interest, this will make the digital RMB much less attractive. This is 

because if people use digital RMB they have to give up the interest income gained from using the 

current third-party platform, which increases the opportunity cost of using digital RMB, which in turn 



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may inhibit a part of the group from using digital RMB. At the same time, the current market 

competition, effective supply, power transformation and institutional innovation in China are not 

sufficient, which constrains the promotion and application of digital RMB. 

2.3 Strengths and Weaknesses Analysis Based on the Social Environment 

2.3.1 Advantages 

(1) Mobile payment is more perfect 

First of all, consumers have already developed the habit of paying with cell phones, and China’s mobile 

payment is far ahead in terms of user scale, transaction scale, and penetration rate. With the arrival of 

the new consumer era, new business models such as e-commerce, e-commerce live streaming, and 

online-offline integration have generated more application scenarios, and new consumer relationships 

based on social networks and new media are more conducive to promoting the promotion of digital 

RMB. 

Secondly, as of September 2023, China’s mobile payment is in a more perfect state in China and the 

world. In the upstream of the industry chain are mobile operators, cell phone manufacturers, IC 

designers, chip manufacturers, etc., in the midstream are related enterprises based on mobile payment, 

such as banks, third-party payment companies, and major telecom operators, etc., and in the 

downstream are consumers and merchants, who can download the corresponding apps on their cell 

phones to realize mobile payment. From the perspective of the industry chain, China’s mobile payment 

is now quite perfect. 

(2) Large social group base 

As we all know, China is a populous country with a large population base, especially since the reform 

and opening up, China’s population has been growing rapidly, especially in recent years China’s 

population growth rate has been very high. 2022 On the morning of September 17, 2022, the National 

Bureau of Statistics released the results of the 7th National Population Census, which showed that as of 

00:00 on November 1, 2021, the population of the country totaled 1,411,780,000 people. According to 

the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics: from 2010 to 2021, the number of births in China 

was more than 20 million each year. From 2010 to 2021, China’s annual birth population increased 

from 16.5 million to 27.6 million. This means that there is a large base of social groups in China, both 

existing and potential digital RMB users, which is extremely favorable to the promotion and 

development of digital RMB. 

2.3.2 Disadvantages 

(1) Wide development gap between urban and rural areas 

Due to China’s vast territory, unbalanced development between regions, and uneven distribution of 

economic income between urban and rural residents, there are still some difficulties in realizing the 

widespread application of digital RMB. Given the geographical differences between regions, there is 

still a long way to go in publicizing and popularizing the digital RMB. 

 



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(2) The public’s knowledge of digital RMB is still shallow 

Nowadays, most residents use traditional currencies for payment transactions. As the central bank 

digital RMB is a new thing, its promotion still lacks successful experience, effective cases and relevant 

data, coupled with China’s huge population base and economic volume, it can be expected that the 

promotion of digital RMB will face many difficulties. Wang Weiling (2023) stated that compared with 

traditional currencies it is found that the consumer population of digital RMB is relatively small 

nowadays, and most of the residents do not know much about e-money. Therefore, issues such as the 

security of e-money have brought more doubts to the consumption of most of the masses. 

2.4 Analysis of Strengths and Weaknesses Based on the Technological Environment 

2.4.1 Advantages 

(1) Advanced technology 

At present, science and technology innovation, mainly characterized by digital economy, has turned 

into a major driving force to stimulate the momentum of development. The rapid development and 

constant integration of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud 

computing and other technologies with every aspect of economic development have resulted in a large 

number of new development models and requirements. Since the new crown epidemic at the end of 

2019, the digital economy of online lectures, online offices, online shopping, and so on, supported by 

digital technology, has developed greatly. At the same time, this has brought about a strong demand for 

online consumption and financial services. The rapid development of electronic payment in the form of 

Alipay, WeChat and other major forms, in the process of promoting the development of the digital 

economy, has also fostered a good behavioral pattern of the public to consume through electronic 

payment, thus better solving the public’s needs for online consumption and financial services, and 

facilitating the continuous improvement of the payment system in major cities. 

China has been at the forefront of the world in the research and development of legal tender, with a 

first-mover advantage.2022 During the two sessions of the National People’s Congress, Chen Yulu, 

deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the 

China Economic Times that the research and development and promotion of digital currencies is a 

statutory duty of the central bank, and the People’s Bank of China has carried out a long term, in-depth, 

systematic research and deployment, and is now steadily The PBoC has conducted long-term, in-depth, 

systematic research and deployment, and is now steadily promoting the research and development of 

legal tender. In terms of issuance motivation, the digital RMB focuses mainly on meeting domestic 

market demand and is based on the modernization of the domestic payment system. In terms of 

issuance design, the digital RMB is a digitized form of the RMB, positioned as a substitute for the M0, 

and does not accrue interest. In terms of technical route, digital RMB does not preset a technical route, 

is not limited to the application of blockchain technology, and the use of unique “double offline” and 

other functions can make up for the shortcomings of the existing payment system, break transaction 

barriers, and meet diversified payment needs. Controllable anonymity can help protect user privacy, 



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and at the same time better carry out anti-money laundering, anti-terrorism, anti-drugs and cross-border 

gambling activities. 

(2) Complete supply chain 

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) established the Legal Digital Currency Research Group in 2014, 

and has continued to promote the Legal Digital Currency Project DC/EP, and by the end of 2019, it had 

completed the top-level design, standardization, functionality research and development, and 

intermodulation testing of the Legal Digital Currency. Since April 2020, it has been conducting internal 

closed pilot tests first in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Xiong’ an New Area, and Chengdu. In October 2020, the 

Shenzhen In October 2020, Shenzhen was the first city to launch the Luohu Digital RMB Red Packet 

Campaign, bringing the digital RMB into the public’s life. On July 16, 2021, the Digital RMB R&D 

Working Group released the “White Paper on China’s Digital RMB R&D Progress”. In addition to the 

People’s Bank of China, Hong Kong, China, also carried out research on legal tender in 2017, with the 

Hong Kong Monetary Authority leading a group of Hong Kong dollar-issuing banks to launch the 

LionRock project, a wholesale legal tender, and carried out cross-border payment technology tests with 

the People’s Bank of China’s Digital Currency Research Institute. In October 2022, the digital RMB 

will be interconnected with Hong Kong’s rapid payment system, the “Digital Express”. 

2.4.2 Disadvantages 

First of all, as a new form of currency, digital RMB still faces many challenges before it can be 

practically applied to cross-border payment business. As private digital currencies are highly 

anonymous and support peer-to-peer transactions, the prohibition of transactions does not effectively 

restrain cryptocurrencies and stable coins, and even if financial institutions or payment institutions are 

prohibited from providing crypto-digital currency-related services in China, digital trading platforms 

set up outside China are able to continue to provide services for domestic investors “underground”. 

Secondly, as the RMB has unlimited legal capacity, it can be used to provide services to domestic 

investors. 

Second, while RMB has unlimited legal compensation, the use and receipt of digital RMB requires 

both parties to the transaction to have a smart device and a digital RMB wallet, making it difficult to 

fully realize the unlimited legal compensation of digital RMB. Although the “double offline” function 

of digital RMB can realize netless payment, its normal use depends on the integrity of power supply 

and payment equipment, and it cannot be used in the event of power outage, while the use of cash in 

natural disasters is more favorable. 

In summary, the rapid development of information technology due to the rapid updating of modern 

technology makes it possible to avoid technological backwardness only through long-term evolution, 

continuous iteration, dynamic updating, regular evaluation and continuous optimization of the choice of 

technological paths. 

 

 



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3. Analysis of the Development Prospects and Existing Problems of Digital RMB 

3.1 Advantageous Prospects of Digital RMB 

Digital RMB is a legal tender uniformly issued by the People's Bank of China (PBOC), which is 

operated and exchanged to the public with the participation of designated operating organizations. It 

belongs to the liabilities of the central bank, has unlimited egal tender, has the same legal effect as the 

RMB, and is equivalent to banknotes and coins. Digital RMB can be considered as a digitized form of 

RMB, which is not on the same level as cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether. At present, China’s 

digital RMB has entered the pilot stage. 

3.1.1 Reducing Costs and Increasing Efficiency 

Digital RMB inherits the advantages of cash point-to-point payment, instant settlement, convenience 

and speed, and makes up for the shortcomings of cash in digital circulation and multi-channel payment, 

which greatly reduces the cost of issuance and transaction, and also enables tracking transactions when 

necessary, playing a role in reducing illegal activities such as tax avoidance and money laundering. 

Taking Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) as an example, ICBC, as one of the digital 

RMB operating organizations, has set up 39 provincial agents and 6 directly-affiliated operating 

organizations in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and the 

Greater Bay Area, as well as many other places in the central and western parts of the country, reaching 

nearly 3,000 outlets to provide services to users. The number of cell phone terminals available for 

digital RMB in the pilot areas will reach about 30 million, indicating that the scope of application of 

digital RMB is gradually expanding, and that its convenient digital services also play a positive role in 

reducing costs and improving efficiency at the same time. 

3.1.2 Ensuring Information Security 

As the digital RMB has a full life-cycle management based on the legal tender status of the People’s 

Bank of China for issuance, circulation, settlement and other processing, it has the characteristics of 

legal tender, consistency and non-tampering, which cannot be replaced by physical cash. At the same 

time, it is irreplaceable by physical cash due to its “double offline payment” function and “account 

loose coupling” technology design, based on the “central bank-commercial bank” dual-layer 

architecture, and the “central bank-commercial bank” dual-layer architecture. At the same time, due to 

the features of “double offline payment” function and “account loose coupling” technology design, 

based on “central bank-commercial bank” two-tier architecture, “distributed ledger” technology, etc., 

the digital RMB can realize controlled and anonymous payment even in the absence of the network or 

disconnected situation. This has a positive effect on the protection of personal privacy and the 

legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers. 

 

 

 

 



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3.1.3 Enhancing the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy 

On the one hand, the implementation of digital RMB development can help expand the space for 

monetary policy. On the other hand, the implementation of the use of digital RMB is conducive to 

improving the central bank’s ability to monitor currency flows and organize the market, reducing 

intermediate losses in support of small and micro-enterprises, etc., and further improving the 

effectiveness of monetary policy regulation. 

3.1.4 Enhancing Financial Inclusion 

Digital currency does not rely on physical outlets and manual services, and can obtain a larger service 

capacity with less labor input. In Nigeria, for example, according to World Bank statistics, about 38 

million people in the country do not have a bank account, accounting for 36% of the adult population, 

if the “e Naira” can be extended to all cell phone users, will greatly enhance the country’s financial 

inclusion, and promote the more direct and effective implementation of social transfers to enhance the 

well-being of the people. 

3.2 Problems of the Digital RMB 

3.2.1 Risks to National and Social Credit Systems 

First of all, today’s world has entered a turbulent transition period, and the international environment 

has become more complex. This is not just a problem on the economic level, but involves problems on 

the political level such as international rule-making and national competition.  

Secondly, currency competition will become more intense. At present, it has become a trend for central 

banks around the world to compete to issue legal tender digital currencies. Some Western countries are 

worried that the digital RMB will become the world’s first widely used technology platform for legal 

tender digital currencies. They are worried that China may have an impact on the design of digital 

currency programs and standard-setting in the future, and may even set up payment barriers and charge 

high fees to impede the cross-border application of the digital RMB. 

3.2.2 There Is the Problem of Payment Dilemma 

On the one hand, due to the natural lag in the formulation of laws, digital RMB faces the problems of 

disputes over its legal nature and conflicts with private digital currencies in China; on the other hand, 

cross-border payment of the central bank’s digital currencies involves the circulation of different 

currency zones, and the varying regulatory rules of different countries will be an obstacle (Liza Li, 

2022). Digital RMB is difficult to achieve unlimited legal tender for the time being. As digital RMB 

cross-border payment faces the legal problem of digital RMB. From the perspective of traditional 

monetary theory, legal tender is an inherent attribute of legal tender and an important symbol that 

distinguishes it from other currencies. However, digital RMB is very different from cash RMB, both in 

terms of the form of its existence and the method of payment. Digital RMB is inherently more 

demanding on the recipient; it requires both the recipient and the payer to use a smart device and both 

to have opened a digital wallet. Based on the current level of device penetration and supporting 

financial facilities, digital RMB cannot be used in all circumstances as cash RMB can be. 



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4. Countermeasures Research on the Development of Digital RMB 

4.1 Strengthening the Internationalization of RMB 

The research and development process of China’s digital RMB has been at the forefront of the world. 

Over the past ten years, under the guidance of the new development concept, China has 

comprehensively implemented the supply-side structural reform, formulated a series of regional major 

strategies of overall significance, and pushed forward the construction of a new development pattern, 

realizing the historic leap of China’s economy and high-quality development. We should also continue 

to adhere to high-quality development, and continuously implement and strengthen the 

internationalization of the RMB, so as to strengthen the internationalization of the digital RMB. 

In recent years, the scale of cross-border RMB use has steadily increased under the active promotion of 

relevant departments (Fang Ming, 2023). We should promote the application of digital RMB as soon as 

possible in a pioneering manner to facilitate digital development. Due to the essential characteristics of 

financial monopoly, economies around the world are actively researching and developing new legal 

policies, and the issuance, control and rule-making of digital currencies will be the world’s largest new 

track. Foreign scholars have proposed that digital currency will lead to the decomposition of the 

existing unipolar international monetary system and the reconstruction of the diversified international 

monetary system, which is conducive to the gradual formation of a diversified international monetary 

system that can ensure economic development (Shen, 2022). Therefore, in order to enrich the 

international monetary system and further form the integration of the world economy, China should 

speed up its entry into the first track, play a good first move, make full use of its pioneering advantages 

in the field, and promote the research and application of digital RMB more actively and steadily. 

In addition, attention should also be paid to integrating the advantages of the digital RMB with those it 

possesses, and establishing a set of monetary policy system under the framework of the digital RMB 

that is suitable for China's national conditions, so as to continue to improve the delivery effect, 

timeliness and accuracy of China’s monetary policy, and to provide strong support for China’s 

high-quality economic development. It is only right that we actively participate in the global 

governance of digital finance, enable cross-border legal tender cooperation, and promote the 

internationalization of the digital RMB (Zhou Guangyou, 2022). 

4.2 Solving the Digital RMB Payment Dilemma 

The significance of granting legal tender to currencies is to maintain a sovereign monetary system 

dominated by national currencies, and we also need to maintain a monetary system backed by the credit 

of the RMB, therefore, the digital RMB must maintain its legal tender. However, as it must match the 

reality of the current development of the digital economy, the application of the digital RMB should be 

given some special terms of constraints. In this regard, we can adopt the following measures: when 

using digital RMB to make payment, when the paying party encounters certain troubles in actual 

operation and the other party has explicitly indicated that it will not agree to it, the other party can be 

allowed to make choices through other payment methods; under certain circumstances, the upper limit 



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53 
Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

of the transaction amount of the digital RMB can be categorized and restricted, especially when it 

involves foreign organizations or individuals possessing the digital RMB within the territory of China, 

it can be categorized and restricted. In particular, when it comes to foreign organizations or individuals 

possessing digital RMB in China, a transaction limit can be set for a certain period of time, which can 

prevent spillover effects under the premise of ensuring a certain degree of market order. 

4.3 Sound New Infrastructure for Digital RMB 

In the context of digital economy, digital RMB is the new infrastructure of China, which will more 

effectively promote the development of China’s financial system in the direction of digitization. 

Currently, major commercial banks such as Gongnong, Zhongjian, Jiaotong, Postal Savings and China 

Merchants, financial institutions such as Alipay and Weizhong, as well as companies such as Jingdong, 

are carrying out various forms of trial runs on the digital RMB. In the future, it is important to fully 

promote the consumption of digital RMB by consumers, and to allow various enterprises to actively 

participate in and strengthen the circulation process of digital RMB. At the same time, more third-party 

payment companies can be attracted through the formulation of relevant preferential policies to actively 

promote the interaction and linkage between the digital RMB and the existing payment tools, so as to 

improve the quality of their services. It should also focus on polishing the technology of consensus 

mechanism, cross-chain expansion, privacy security and transaction smart contract of digital RMB 

payment procedures, so as to control the trial and error cost of blockchain development within the 

minimum threshold (Chen, Yanyan, 2022). It is only right that we continue to strengthen the new 

digital financial infrastructure and keep implementing the infrastructure of digital RMB to accelerate 

the development of digital RMB. 

4.4 Strengthening Market Regulation 

We can improve the relevant laws and regulations, and we should accelerate the corresponding 

supporting institutions, strengthen market supervision, and construct a management method applicable 

to digital RMB. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the hierarchical and categorized 

management of each type of digital RMB wallet, and set the upper limit of the wallet balance and the 

upper limit of the transaction amount, etc., so as to prevent a large number of wallets with non-original 

names from being used for illegal transactions. In due course, specific laws and regulations that are 

linked to digital RMB in various aspects should also be formulated, so as to provide for digital RMB. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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54 
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https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106228
https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202315403014
https://doi.org/10.14712/23366478.2021.28
https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-036-7_123

