According to official policy information, DigitalCurrency (DCEP) is composed of digital currency and electronic payment. The former means digital currency, and the latter is called electronic payment. The former represents online circulation in digital currency, while the latter shows that one of DCEP's main businesses is digital wallet. Therefore, regardless of the background of network resources and circulation channels, or the basic functions undertaken, DCEP has a natural overlap with payment tools such as Alipay and WeChat, thus forming a market competition relationship with third-party payment.
According to the design, DCEP adopts a two-tier operation system, that is, the central bank is the issuer of digital currency, commercial banks are responsible for storing and keeping digital currency, and other institutions and users access and exchange digital currency through commercial banks. Although they are legal tender, the security credit obtained by digital currency in different digital wallets is different, that is, the digital wallets deposited in commercial banks are recognized as liabilities of the central bank in nature, protected by the central bank as the lender of last resort, and have high security. When it is placed in the third-party payment digital wallet, it shows the liabilities of commercial banks to users. If the third-party payment goes bankrupt or goes bankrupt, it will be difficult for digital currency to be protected. From this point of view, as a means of payment, the competitive advantage of DCEP is obviously incomparable to third-party payment.
Through more detailed comparison, it is found that because of the endorsement of national credit, DCEP has obtained the characteristics of unlimited legal compensation, that is, any trading scenario must be unconditionally accepted. On the contrary, there are business barriers in third-party payment, and there are barriers of non-recognition and isolation between different platforms. For example, Alipay and WeChat cannot transfer money to each other. In addition, digital currency stands for M0, just as users use paper money offline, they can complete payment without any intermediate links. However, if the payment is made through a third party, the digital currency at this time must first be obtained by transferring money from a commercial bank, and then the payment process must go through the liquidation process. Therefore, the digital currency in third-party payment is actually M 1 and M2. More importantly, digital currency adopts a loose coupling mode, that is, users can not only bind their digital wallets to bank accounts, but also make payments independently by relying on digital wallets, so that while relying on online payment, DCEP can also make offline payments, such as "touching" between mobile phones to complete the transfer. But the difference is that the third-party payment adopts the tight coupling mode, and all payments must be bound to bank accounts and must be traded online. Therefore, from the perspective of payment efficiency, DCEP, as a means of payment, is much simpler and faster than third-party payment. Just like this, DCEP is regarded as a "super wallet" that can cover the whole scene.
Obviously, if DCEP can operate wallet business, the crowding out and substitution effect on third-party payment will be inevitable. At present, third-party payment not only relies on the platform to collect service commissions, but also develops derivative businesses through payment drainage, such as internet small loans, money funds, wealth management and insurance. At the same time, third-party payment can also rely on payment data to expand credit information and risk control related businesses, such as sesame credit under Alipay, and such products are put into hotels and enjoy bicycles. More importantly, third-party payment can accurately capture and discover users' consumption preferences and demand tendencies by virtue of data accumulation, and constantly create new scenarios, thus enhancing users' stickiness, and thus forming a strong support for the core original business. However, if DCEP enters the payment market, the third-party payment that lacks competitive advantage will not only face the risk of losing a large number of users, but also the profit channels and space will be cruelly squeezed, the radius of deriving and expanding business will be reduced, and the original business that relies on traffic will also be affected. In extreme cases, it is not excluded that third-party payment institutions go bankrupt in batches.
According to the official design, although theoretically DCEP has the payment function, based on the basic principle of "government belongs to the government and market belongs to the market", the central bank will definitely not participate in the operation of digital currency digital wallet, but as the issuer of digital currency, it is mainly responsible for the establishment of the supervision system and the substantive supervision of technology and finance. Moreover, unlike the original paper money leaving the banking institutions, in many cases, the central bank cannot obtain the currency flow state. The central bank can completely rely on digital wallets to capture the traces of monetary activities in time, and the supervision of digital currency, including third-party payments, will be more effective. Therefore, from the perspective of payment instrument management, only commercial banks are closely related to the interests of third-party payment. To put it bluntly, will commercial banks be allowed to put digital wallets on the payment market as the backbone of their business in the future? If yes, what is the scope and degree of embedding? In addition, can third-party payment continue to exist as the main body of payment operation in digital currency?
The central bank clearly defined commercial banks as the sole holders of digital currency deposits, which actually gave commercial banks the privilege of depositing digital currency as in the past. Commercial banks can borrow money and pay interest through users' digital wallets, and at the same time, they can also carry out related financial management and other derivative businesses. The difference between deposit and loan is also the main way for commercial banks to make profits in digital currency era. In addition, commercial banks are responsible for managing users' digital wallets, which is also a privilege derived from digital currency. In principle, there is a management fee for managing digital wallets for them. However, based on the demand of storage users, C-end users (private and enterprise) are exempted from this fee. However, if the third-party payment is to recharge the account, that is, the user transfers it to the payment account in the digital currency in the digital wallet of the commercial bank, this fee is not deductible, but is borne by the third-party payment and paid to the commercial bank. Commercial banks can gain digital currency's payment market share by operating K-bases (debit cards, credit cards, etc.). ), at the same time, they can also operate with DCEP as the main body and open up profit channels without entering the payment market to grab food.
Therefore, the introduction of digital currency only represents the change of the basic currency form, that is, from tangible legal tender cash to intangible digital currency, from a society with cash to a society without cash. However, the original monetary management system will not change much, and the payment channels and scenarios of money will not change, which determines the cooperative relationship between third-party payment and commercial banks. As a means of payment, DCEP is still diversified and compatible, and its circulation carrier will not be completely separated from the third-party payment channels. Making such a design can not only reduce the conversion cost in the digital upgrade of currency, but also safeguard the legal status of the central bank and commercial banks. More importantly, third-party payment has become a powerful force in China's financial market. More than 230 payment institutions are not only the core driving force for the creation of various consumption scenarios, but also important service providers for SMEs and residents to invest and finance. If DCEP is used as a payment tool to completely replace the third-party payment, it is equivalent to the return of the traditional payment system, which is the result that regulators do not want to see anyway.
(The writer is a director of China Market Society and a professor of economics. )