Caixin: The digital yuan differs from Ethereum smart contracts; WeChat, Alipay, and others will gradually gain wallet opening permissions.

PANews reported on January 9th that, according to Caixin.com, starting January 1st, interest will begin accruing on the balance of digital yuan wallets. It is understood that its smart contracts differ from the "on-chain" smart contracts built on the blockchain, which are famous for Ethereum. A senior digital yuan expert pointed out that the digital yuan is not built on a blockchain, but rather on a newly designed account system. The central bank and commercial banks jointly maintain the "same ledger." By loading "smart contracts that do not affect the function of currency," the digital yuan achieves programmability and supports functions such as targeted payments and automatic execution.

In addition, Caixin also disclosed that currently only digital RMB wallets with real-name authentication can accrue interest, that is, wallets of types one, two, and three can accrue interest, while wallets of type four without real-name authentication do not accrue interest (the owner of wallets of type four cannot be identified). After January 1, mobile banking services of various participating banks and payment platforms such as WeChat and Alipay will also gradually obtain the permission to open digital RMB wallets.