The digital yuan is no longer an "experiment" in pilot programs, but a national-level "institutional monetary infrastructure" for the digital civilization era. In the last week of March 2026, several key pieces were added to the map of China's digital yuan. On March 20, the Shanghai Securities News reported that the number of digital yuan operating institutions is expected to expand again, with 12 joint-stock banks and city commercial banks, including CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, potentially joining the central bank's digital yuan system. This means that if the expansion is implemented, the number of digital yuan operating institutions will increase from the current 10 to 22. Almost simultaneously, the Jing'an branch of Bank of Communications in Shanghai successfully completed its first digital yuan currency bridge transaction under the Free Trade Zone accounting unit, using blockchain technology to complete the cross-border fund settlement. Two days later, the Changsha branch of Industrial Bank processed a currency bridge cross-border payment transaction of RMB 270 million for a key foreign trade enterprise in Hunan, setting a record for the largest single transaction in Hunan Province. Just three months prior, on January 1, 2026, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China simultaneously issued announcements declaring that, effective immediately, interest would be paid on the balance of digital RMB real-name wallets opened with their respective banks at the current deposit rate. This move was directly triggered by the "Action Plan on Further Strengthening the Management and Service System and Related Financial Infrastructure Construction of Digital RMB" issued by the People's Bank of China on December 29, 2025. This document clearly states that the new generation of digital RMB's measurement framework, management system, operating mechanism, and ecosystem will be officially launched and implemented on January 1, 2026. The expansion of operating institutions, the successive launches of currency bridge businesses, and the commencement of interest accrual for real-name wallets—these seemingly independent events, when examined together, all point to the same historical turning point: the digital RMB is upgrading from a single payment tool to an interest-bearing, programmable, and manageable "institutional currency." From its research and development in 2014 to entering the 2.0 era in 2026, the digital RMB has traversed a full twelve years. As of the end of November 2025, the cumulative transaction amount of the digital yuan had reached 16.7 trillion yuan, with 230 million personal wallets and 18.84 million corporate wallets opened. However, 16.7 trillion yuan is just a past achievement; what truly defines the future is the profound transformation that is currently underway. I. Interest Calculation Implementation: From "Cash-type 1.0" to "Deposit Money-type 2.0" To understand the essence of digital yuan 2.0, we must return to a fundamental question: What exactly is the digital yuan? In the 1.0 era, the digital yuan was clearly positioned as M0—a digital substitute for cash in circulation.This means it doesn't accrue interest, can only be used for payments and transfers after opening, cannot be deposited, and doesn't generate any returns. This design maintains a pure "cash attribute" in monetary theory, but in practice, its limitations have gradually become apparent: insufficient user willingness to hold it, lack of motivation for commercial banks to promote it, and limited application scenarios. Lu Lei, Vice Governor of the People's Bank of China, described this transformation as a leap from "cash-type 1.0" to "deposit-type 2.0" when interpreting the "Action Plan." The institutional changes behind this statement are far more profound than the literal meaning. On December 31, 2025, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications, and Postal Savings Bank of China successively issued announcements stating that from January 1, 2026, the balance of digital RMB real-name wallets opened with their banks will accrue interest at the current deposit rate, with the interest calculation and settlement rules consistent with current deposits. The essence of this change is a fundamental shift in the legal attributes and monetary level of the digital RMB. From a legal perspective, the digital RMB has transformed from a "central bank liability" to a "bank liability." Under the 1.0 framework, the digital yuan is a direct liability of the People's Bank of China, and commercial banks are merely circulation channels, unable to include it in their balance sheets for operation. Under the 2.0 framework, however, the digital yuan will be "included" in the balance sheets of commercial banks, becoming a liability—meaning banks can conduct asset and liability management based on the digital yuan, thereby obtaining profit incentives. II. Popularization of Smart Contracts: The RMB Learns "Automatic Execution" If interest calculation solved the question of whether the digital yuan is "worth holding," then smart contracts solve the question of "can it be used better?" On February 6, 2026, a site visit to the Chengdu Beite Construction and Installation Engineering Co., Ltd. project site marked a systemic technological revolution in migrant worker wage payment methods. This was the first nationwide digital yuan smart contract-based migrant worker wage payment transaction to be implemented in Chengdu, Sichuan. The core logic of this system is: the system automatically triggers contract execution based on reliable first-line data, ensuring that wages directly reach the migrant worker's digital yuan wallet, eliminating interception and misappropriation in intermediate links, and fundamentally solving the long-standing problems of "muddled accounts" and "separation of person and card" from a systemic perspective. This first batch of digital RMB smart contract-based payroll payments in Sichuan Province distributed over 1 million yuan in wages to 104 workers, achieving accurate and real-time wage payments. The core value of digital RMB smart contracts lies in their "programmable" nature.Traditional payment tools can only complete "peer-to-peer" fund transfers, while smart contracts can embed preset conditions and rules during fund transfers—funds are only released when a certain condition is met; when a certain event is triggered, funds automatically flow to a designated account. This ability of "condition triggering and automatic execution" transforms the digital yuan from a passive payment tool into an active asset manager. III. Breakthrough in Currency Bridges: From "Traditional Cross-Border Settlement" to "Peer-to-Peer Clearing" If domestic applications represent the "internal strength cultivation" of the digital yuan, then cross-border payments are the "touchstone" for testing its 2.0 version. On March 22, 2026, with the full guidance and collaborative support of the International Department/Transaction Banking Department and the Operations and Channels Department of the Shanghai Branch of Bank of Communications, the Jing'an Sub-branch successfully implemented its first digital yuan currency bridge transaction under the Free Trade Zone accounting unit. This is a significant practical achievement for Bank of Communications in the field of cross-border financial innovation of the digital yuan. The core of these two transactions is the large-scale application of the "Multilateral Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge" (mBridge) project. The mBridge project, jointly built by the Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China, the Innovation Centre of the Bank for International Settlements (Hong Kong), the Central Bank of Thailand, the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, aims to create a cross-border payment solution centered on central bank digital currency. The strategic significance of this project cannot be overstated. IV. Ecosystem Expansion: From "10 Operating Institutions" to "22 Co-construction Networks" On March 20, 2026, the Shanghai Securities News disclosed that the number of operating institutions for digital RMB business is expected to expand, with 12 commercial banks potentially joining and connecting to the central bank's digital RMB system. These 12 banks include: seven national joint-stock banks—CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Guangdong Development Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, and Zhejiang Commercial Bank—and five local city commercial banks—Ningbo Bank, Jiangsu Bank, Bank of Beijing, Bank of Nanjing, and Bank of Suzhou. If this expansion is implemented, the number of digital RMB operating institutions will increase from the current 10 to 22. The significance of expanding the number of operating institutions goes far beyond simply "more banks participating." From a business perspective, the addition of more operating institutions means a significant increase in the reach of the digital yuan. While the existing 10 operating institutions cover mainstream banking channels, there are still gaps in local services, regionally specific scenarios, and outreach to SMEs. The participation of local city commercial banks can extend digital yuan services to more grassroots markets and cover more localized scenario needs.V. Frontier Integration: The Cross-Evolution of Digital Yuan with AI and Blockchain The most profound strategic significance of Digital Yuan 2.0 may not lie in what it can do itself, but in what it provides for the integration of "AI + Blockchain". During the 2026 National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (NPC & CPPCC) sessions, CPPCC member Zhuang Zixiang suggested launching an interconnected overseas version of the digital yuan wallet, leveraging the institutional advantages of Hong Kong's international financial center, allowing international users to link their overseas bank cards for consumption. Behind this suggestion is the evolution of the digital yuan from a "payment tool within China" to an "international financial infrastructure". When AI agents begin to autonomously process payments and manage assets, they need a trustworthy, efficient, and programmable monetary system. The smart contract function of the digital yuan can provide an ideal payment and settlement foundation for AI agents—AI agents can automatically trigger payments according to preset rules without human intervention, and the entire process is traceable and verifiable. When RWAs (Real-World Assets) begin to be tokenized, they need a stable and compliant value anchor. Backed by national credit, the digital yuan naturally possesses this attribute. Looking back at this week in March 2026: news of expanding operating institutions emerged, money bridge businesses were launched one after another, smart contract scenarios continued to expand, and interest in real-name wallets quietly accumulated in every account. These seemingly scattered events converged into one signal: the digital yuan is no longer an "experiment" in pilot programs, but a national-level "institutional monetary infrastructure" for the digital civilization era. [RWA Research Institute]