Starting tomorrow, balances in authenticated digital yuan wallets will begin accruing interest. On December 31, state-owned banks including ICBC, ABC, CCB, Bank of Communications, and PSBC announced the rules for calculating interest on digital yuan wallet balances.
ICBC, ABC, CCB, Bank of Communications, and PSBC all issued announcements stating that, beginning January 1, 2026, the banks will pay interest on balances in authenticated digital yuan wallets opened for customers based on their respective banks' listed demand deposit interest rates, with the calculation and payment rules being consistent with those for demand deposits. It is noteworthy that digital yuan wallets are categorized into four types. Among them, Class I, II, and III wallets are unauthenticated wallets, while Class IV wallets are non-authenticated wallets. Therefore, Class IV wallets do not fall under the "authenticated wallet" category for which banks will pay interest. Bank of Communications explicitly stated in its announcement that if a customer opens a Class IV personal digital yuan wallet, the balance in that wallet will not accrue interest. The digital yuan refers to the legal digital currency and related payment system issued by the People's Bank of China, adopting a two-tier operational structure where the PBOC issues the currency to authorized operators, who then distribute it to the public. This past Monday (December 29), the "Action Plan on Further Strengthening the Digital RMB Management Service System and Related Financial Infrastructure," issued by the People's Bank of China, clarified that starting next year, balances in digital yuan wallets will accrue interest.
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