Former vice president of Bank of China Wang Yongli: Greater attention should be paid to the development of stablecoins
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Former vice president of Bank of China Wang Yongli: Greater attention should be paid to the development of stablecoins
In Wang Yongli's view, if crypto assets are legalized, corresponding monetary payment and clearing support would be needed.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsSource: Beijing Business Daily
On May 17–18, the 2025 Tsinghua PBC School of Finance Global Financial Forum was held in Shenzhen. At a panel titled "Outlook for China's Economy in 2025," Wang Yongli, former vice president of Bank of China and co-chairman of Digital China Information Service Group Co., Ltd., said that facing increasingly complex international circumstances, China must focus on doing its own work well and accelerate the development of dual domestic and international circulations. Among these efforts, accelerating cross-border RMB payment and clearing is an important infrastructure and a key driving force.
China has already achieved significant progress in developing cross-border RMB payment and clearing systems, including advancing interbank payment and clearing, establishing China's own UnionPay organization, building and expanding the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS), and strengthening cooperation with Swift.
Meanwhile, new business models have emerged in cross-border payment and clearing, as the development of crypto assets has spurred the rise of central bank-backed stablecoins. Current fiat currency payment and clearing systems cannot meet the demand for 24/7 global online transactions. Without the ability to exchange with fiat currencies, the value of crypto assets cannot be realized, severely limiting their growth. Therefore, according to Wang Yongli, if crypto assets are legalized, corresponding support from monetary payment and clearing systems will be required.
Wang Yongli noted that in the United States, the interaction between fiat currencies and crypto assets has given rise to stablecoins pegged one-to-one to fiat currencies, most notably USDT and USDC. Currently, stablecoins are predominantly dollar-based, and their implications deserve serious attention from other countries. In particular, stablecoins use new technologies to improve monetary operational efficiency, reduce costs, and require strict risk controls.
Following the emergence of stablecoins, not only have traditional crypto assets like Bitcoin grown rapidly, but new areas such as NFTs and RWA—representing the securitization of digital assets—have also emerged. Therefore, when promoting cross-border payment and clearing, money should not remain confined to traditional service methods and domains; it needs to adopt new technologies and even learn from certain stablecoin models and technologies to transform how money operates.
Wang Yongli suggested that mainland China should give greater attention to stablecoin development within industry and academic circles and further advance the digital RMB. "If a stablecoin is pegged one-to-one to a fiat currency, then theoretically, the stablecoin is simply a token of that currency. If tokens can achieve this, why can't our own fiat currencies?"
Wang Yongli also warned that while there are now many types of dollar-based stablecoins, too many varieties may not be beneficial. A more unified operating mechanism needs to be established.
When discussing financial technology development further, Wang Yongli pointed out that although China has taken a leading position globally in mobile payments and digital currencies, redundant construction, data silos, and security risks have become "underwater reefs" restricting high-quality development. Specifically, various institutions independently building their own payment and data systems leads to chaotic interfaces and rising interconnection costs, causing smaller and medium-sized institutions to fall behind; all data assets are effectively controlled by service providers (such as platform enterprises) rather than the true initiators of the business (users or enterprises), creating risks of privacy leaks and abuse; unclear ownership of data assets and undefined circulation rules constrain the realization of digital asset value.
To address this, Wang Yongli proposed using the digital RMB as a model to build intensive digital infrastructure. The digital RMB adopts a centralized app architecture managed by the central bank, which could theoretically aggregate all transaction data and enable precise traceability at the individual or corporate level. If this model is extended to identity management, users might replace physical documents with digital IDs and autonomously set usage scenarios and validity periods for their information.
"If we achieve real breakthroughs in these areas, cryptocurrency, digital assets, digital finance, and digital society will undergo profound transformation," said Wang Yongli.
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