Source: Xinhua News Agency
In the era of big data, consumers pay more and more attention to personal privacy protection, and using digital RMB is no exception. How to make payment more convenient and secure while protecting consumer privacy? The digital RMB is exploring solutions by realizing "controllable anonymity".
The picture shows the audience walking by the digital RMB sign in the Shougang Park of the China Trade Fair on September 5, 2021. Xinhua News Agency reporter Wu Wei Photo by
Small payment can be anonymous. Large amounts can be traced according to law
cash transactions are anonymous and can better protect consumers' privacy. The digital RMB positioned in cash in circulation naturally needs to meet people's needs for anonymous transactions. Opening a digital RMB wallet does not even require binding a bank card.
Director of the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China Mu Changchun Previously introduced that according to relevant laws and regulations, telecom operators are not allowed to arbitrarily disclose customer information corresponding to their mobile phone numbers to third parties including People's Bank of China , so the four types of wallets opened with mobile phone numbers are actually anonymous.
Currently, whether it is Internet payment or bank card payment, it needs to be bound to a bank account system to meet the requirements of bank real-name account opening. However, digital RMB wallets are managed in a layered manner. Opening four types of digital RMB wallets does not require binding a bank card, but can be achieved by relying on mobile phone numbers alone. Of course, this type of wallet also has corresponding balance limits, payment limits and other requirements.
According to the current management requirements of digital RMB wallets, the transaction limits of the four types of digital RMB wallets with the lowest authority are: the balance limit of 10,000 yuan, the single payment limit of 2,000 yuan, the daily cumulative payment limit of 5,000 yuan, and the annual cumulative payment limit of 5,000 yuan.
In addition to this, some digital RMB hard wallets can also not be associated with user identities, which is as convenient as purchasing a "prepaid card".
As for small payment, digital RMB can be completely anonymous, but if you want to make large payments, you need to upgrade your "wallet" and provide valid ID documents, your own bank account and other information as required. For example, after upgrading to a Class II wallet, the upper limit of the balance of the digital RMB wallet will be increased to 500,000 yuan, the upper limit of a single payment limit will be increased to 50,000 yuan, and the upper limit of the daily cumulative payment limit will be 100,000 yuan.
However, Mu Changchun emphasized that only when suspected illegal and suspicious transactions are triggered, the competent authorities can query and use user personal information from the operating organization in accordance with the law. At the same time, the scope of awareness and use shall be strictly controlled within the authorization of laws and regulations, and safety protection measures shall be taken.
The picture shows a bank staff member showing a digital RMB hard wallet. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Zhonghao
Open sub-wallet to protect the "digital footprint"
Some Internet platforms over-track and collect the "digital footprint" of users, especially various financial information. How to avoid exposing "digital footprints" in online payment scenarios? The sub-wallet function launched by the digital RMB may solve this problem.
When using digital RMB to pay on e-commerce platforms, users can open sub-wallets under their mother wallets, and the user's payment information will be packaged and encrypted. E-commerce platforms will not be able to directly obtain information such as the customer's bank card number, bank card validity period, etc., but can only see the mobile phone number used by the customer to connect to the e-commerce platform account when opening a sub-wallet. Currently, the digital RMB wallet supports multiple subwallet applications such as JD.com , Didi travel, Meituan cycling, etc.
reporter learned that the digital RMB follows the principle of "minimum and necessary" when collecting personal information, and the amount of information collected is less than that of existing electronic payment tools.
Mu Changchun said that the digital RMB only collects necessary personal information directly related to the processing purpose. For users who choose to refuse to provide permissions, the digital RMB App will strictly implement it. In order to ensure the safety of users' property, the digital RMB only collects information required for risk control to strengthen the risk identification of users' digital RMB wallets and prevent risks such as theft, malicious report on losses, and online fraud.
On April 29, 2022, in Bishan District, Chongqing, a passenger used digital RMB payment to take the bus.Xinhua News Agency issued
to prevent telecommunications fraud and fulfill the "three anti-" obligations
If you only focus on personal privacy protection and ignore the risks that may be brought about by the facilitation, scale and cross-regional financial products and services in the digital age, central bank digital currency may be used by criminals.
In recent years, electronic payment has been targeted by criminals and has become a settlement channel for illegal crimes such as online gambling and telecommunications fraud. Experts pointed out that the central bank's digital currency collects less user information than electronic payments. If the degree of anonymity is too high, it will provide criminals with new criminal soil, and a large number of illegal transactions may flow from electronic payments to central bank digital currency. At the same time, the central bank's digital currency is more portable. If it provides the same anonymity as cash, it will greatly facilitate illegal transactions such as money laundering.
At present, when exploring the anonymity of central banks' digital currencies, all countries will take risk prevention as an important prerequisite. Designs that cannot meet the requirements of anti-money laundering, anti-terrorist financing and anti-tax evasion will be rejected.
People's Bank of China Deputy Governor Fan Yifei once wrote an article pointing out that if there is no transaction anonymity, personal information and privacy will be leaked; but if complete third-party anonymity is allowed, it will encourage crime. Therefore, in order to achieve a balance, controllable anonymity must be achieved.
In order to ensure the effective implementation of the controllable anonymity requirements of the digital RMB, Mu Changchun revealed that in the next step, the digital RMB will gradually establish an information isolation mechanism, clarify the legal conditions for digital wallet inquiry, freezing, and deduction, establish a punishment mechanism, and improve the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing of the digital RMB...
As the top-level system design continues to be improved, we look forward to the "controllable anonymity" characteristics of the digital RMB, which can bring a more convenient and safer payment experience to the public.
