Will cash become history in China as cities begin to pilot RMB digital currency?

Recently, news were circulating that the People's Bank of China, Chinese central bank, is about to issue digital currency.

According to the pictures posted on the Internet, the first batch of cities to open the RMB digital currency test are: Shenzhen, Xiong'an, Chengdu, Suzhou.

The digital currency you exchange is directly transferred to the central bank account. It belongs to the central bank's liabilities, has national credit, and is equivalent to fiat currency.  DEPC is as forensic as RMB, and no domestic unit or individual may refuse to accept it.

DCEP also has the advantages of traceability, sovereign credit, and dual offline payment.  Even if there is no internet, you can still transfer and pay through your mobile phone.

The digital currencies issued by the People's Bank of China are referred to as DC and EP in English.  The full English name of DC is: digital currency (digital currency), the full English name of EP is: electronic payment (electronic payment).

Mu Changchun, director of the central bank's Digital Currency Research Institute, clearly defined it, that is, "its functional attributes are exactly the same as banknotes, but only in digital form."

DCEP sounds similar to Alipay and WeChat, but the three are actually very different.

For every penny in Alipay and WeChat Pay, there is a corresponding RMB in the bank, and every transaction is transferred in the bank.

And DCEP = paper money, the Chinese version of digital currency does not need to be tied to any bank account, and is used like paper money.

It is worth noting that although DC / EP itself is anonymous, the flow of user funds is transparent and traceable, which is a feature that cash payments do not have.  In the future, paper money will be gradually replaced by digital currency.