Digital Yuan Visual Hard Wallet: Shenzhen Unveils First, Ushering in a New Era of Payments

Digital Yuan Visual Hard Wallet: Shenzhen Unveils First, Ushering in a New Era of PaymentsOn November 7th, at the 18th Shenzhen International Financial Fair and the 2024 Shenzhen International Fintech Festival, the digital yuan visual hard wallet product and its application were officially launched, marking the birth of the nation's first digital yuan visual hard wallet. Among the 7 hard wallet cards released that day, Industrial Bank Shenzhen Branch and other institutions were involved

Digital Yuan Visual Hard Wallet: Shenzhen Unveils First, Ushering in a New Era of Payments

On November 7th, at the 18th Shenzhen International Financial Fair and the 2024 Shenzhen International Fintech Festival, the digital yuan visual hard wallet product and its application were officially launched, marking the birth of the nation's first digital yuan visual hard wallet. Among the 7 hard wallet cards released that day, Industrial Bank Shenzhen Branch and other institutions were involved.

This launch of the digital yuan visual hard wallet is an innovative product jointly developed by Shenzhen operating institutions under the guidance of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, the Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China, and the Shenzhen Municipal Finance Bureau. It integrates an e-ink display into a card only 1mm thick and is equipped with a dynamic QR code, realizing the functions of "touch, view, and scan", bringing a revolutionary change to the digital yuan payment experience.

The "touch" function stems from the digital yuan app "touch and pay" hard wallet collection function that Shenzhen was the first in the country to implement in April this year. Users only need to touch the hard wallet against a POS machine or trusted mobile device to complete payment, simplifying the transaction process.

The "scan" function adds the ability to display a dynamic payment QR code. Merchants do not need to equip additional devices, they can simply use their mobile phones to scan the visual hard wallet payment code directly, which is convenient and fast.

The "view" function is based on the original hard wallet, adding the ability to display a dynamic payment QR code and display transaction information and wallet balance visually. This function breaks through the limitation of digital yuan hard wallets only being able to pay through NFC, allowing it to fully integrate into China's mature barcode payment environment, greatly expanding its application scenarios. At the same time, users can more intuitively understand transaction information and balances, improving the user-friendliness for groups such as the elderly, students, and foreign visitors to China when using digital yuan hard wallets.

The Shenzhen People's Bank stated that, in accordance with the spirit of the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Further Optimizing Payment Services and Enhancing Payment Convenience", the Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China continues to promote the parallel development of mobile payment, bank cards, and cash payment methods, and is the first to launch pilot programs for proxy witnessed account opening, mobile payment "foreign card binding, domestic use", cash pocket money, digital currency hard wallet, and other innovative applications, creating a Shenzhen full-region payment demonstration zone to meet the diverse payment service needs of groups such as the elderly and foreign visitors to China.

It's worth mentioning that Shenzhen has made several progress in digital yuan hard wallet services.

More convenient to receive: Since the beginning of this year, as the number of inbound travelers continues to rise, Shenzhen's operating institutions have set up 34 hard wallet self-service issuing machines at key areas such as airports and ports, making it convenient for foreigners coming to Shenzhen to receive digital yuan hard wallets immediately.

More diversified top-up: Building on the existing support for Hong Kong Octopus card top-up, Shenzhen has expanded top-up channels to include RMB and foreign currency cash, VISA and MasterCard foreign cards, providing users with more diversified top-up options.

Richer scenarios: In April 2024, Shenzhen's operating institutions and major acquirers upgraded their existing 36,000 acceptance terminals to support the acceptance of digital yuan hard wallets. The transformation of key scenarios such as buses and subways is also steadily progressing.

More flexible card return: Digital yuan hard wallets have controllable anonymity features. Users can choose to return and refund their cards at self-service issuing machines or bank branches based on their own needs, making the operation simple.

In September this year, the Shenzhen Branch of the People's Bank of China and the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China jointly issued a notice on further improving the pilot application of the digital yuan app collection business in Shenzhen, encouraging taxis, agricultural markets, and other merchants to use the digital yuan app collection business. Merchants only need one mobile phone to collect payments from visual hard wallets through "touch and pay" or "scan", effectively reducing the pressure on merchants and lowering their operating costs.

Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry at Bocom Research, said that visual hard wallets are more conducive to the circulation of digital yuan, making it more convenient. Digital yuan transaction settlement does not rely on traditional bank clearing systems, reducing the cost of intermediate links, especially in large-scale transactions, which can significantly reduce the cost of capital flow and promote local economic and consumption growth.

Wang Pengbo pointed out that there are several areas where we can continue to push forward in the pilot promotion of digital yuan:

• Continuously enhance the stability, reliability, and security of the digital yuan system;

• Actively expand application technology scenarios, driving an increase in C-end usage frequency through B-end and G-end expansion;

• In terms of regulations, accelerate the promulgation of regulations related to digital yuan, establish and improve relevant regulatory systems and responsibility mechanisms, and provide institutional guarantees for the healthy development of digital yuan;

• Strengthen the docking and cooperation between relevant departments and local governments, promote and encourage industry development, and cultivate digital yuan industrial clusters.

The launch of the digital yuan visual hard wallet marks a continuous breakthrough in the digital yuan payment experience and opens up a new chapter for the broader application of digital yuan in the payment field. In the future, as the digital yuan ecosystem continues to improve and application scenarios continue to expand, the digital yuan visual hard wallet will play a greater role, promoting the development of the digital economy and contributing to the construction of a new digital financial system.