A recent rumor that Shenzhen has started using digital currency in second-hand housing transactions has been widely spread on WeChat. In response, the People's Bank of China - China's central bank - has denied it.
The Beijing News quoted an unnamed central banker as saying on August 23 that the current digital RMB pilot application scenario is small retail, and has not expanded to large-value payment scenarios such as real estate sales and purchases.
The digital RMB is a legal tender just like the banknotes and can be exchanged 1:1 in both directions, the person said.
The chat content previously spread in WeChat shows: "Someone sold a house in Shenzhen, the bank offered large transfer to the seller with digital currency, and they cannot be changed into banknotes. It is to buy the house using ordinary currency transactions, selling the house would get you digital currency."
CCTV previously reported that China's legal digital currency is a combination of digital currency and electronic payment instruments from the People's Bank of China, with the goal of replacing some of the cash.
Simply put, the PBOC digital currency can be seen as digitized RMB cash.
In terms of usage scenarios, the central bank's digital currency does not pay interest and can be used in small, retail and high-frequency business scenarios, which is not much different from using paper money.
It is not dependent on bank accounts and payment accounts, and can be used as long as the user is equipped with a digital currency wallet.