As the global digital economy is booming, legal digital currency has become a key variable in reshaping the international monetary system and cross-border payment ecology. It has also provided a more transparent, secure, efficient and low-cost new path to facilitate economic and trade transactions and local currency settlement.
Previously, the Digital RMB International Operation Center and the first batch of 26 domestic and foreign banks signed a direct participant service agreement for the Digital RMB Cross-Border Settlement Comprehensive Service Platform (CBETS) in Shanghai.
After signing a contract to access, financial institutions can rely on the comprehensive cross-border settlement service capabilities provided by CBETS to provide customers with more secure, efficient and convenient cross-border payment services.
Regarding the positioning, operation model and value of CBETS, the relevant person in charge gave a detailed explanation at the 2026 Summer Davos Forum.
New variables have emerged in the current international monetary system. Central bank digital currencies, stable coins and various cryptocurrencies are developing rapidly, and the global cross-border payment system has entered a new stage of development.
However, the industry has become fragmented, which has invisibly increased the compliance, technology and docking costs of cross-border payments, and has restricted the healthy development of global cross-border trade to a certain extent. It is against this background that CBETS came into being.
In 2025, the relevant regulatory authorities made overall arrangements to integrate the functions of digital renminbi-related operating agencies, and the digital renminbi international operation center was formally established, specifically responsible for the construction and operation of digital renminbi cross-border infrastructure, and serving the construction of cross-border and offshore systems.
In 2026, with the adjustment of the digital renminbi measurement framework and the upgrade of the overall structure of the infrastructure system, the three major business platforms of the digital renminbi cross-border digital payment platform, blockchain service platform, and digital asset platform will also be upgraded to the digital currency cross-border settlement comprehensive service platform, and branded operations will be launched.
Overseas participants can access through the Hong Kong access point at one point, conveniently open multiple businesses, and directly access 7×24-hour intelligent digital payment services.
In terms of operational logic, CBETS first built a hierarchical adaptation, flexible and efficient interconnection model to meet the access needs of different entities: it not only supports the point-to-point bilateral direct connection model to realize direct connection between different payment systems, such as the previous cooperation with the Hong Kong local payment system and the Laos payment network, it also supports the “center-spoke” multilateral interoperability model, which brings together multiple participants through a unified platform to achieve cross-border flow of information and funds.
Regardless of overseas central banks, commercial banks, payment institutions or financial infrastructure, they can independently choose the appropriate access method based on their own technical capabilities and business needs.
For different types of participating institutions, CBETS also provides differentiated access solutions: for institutions with strong technology development capabilities and direct processing needs, direct access services are provided, which can be deeply integrated with the platform through API interfaces; for institutions with small business volume and hope for rapid business implementation
For institutions, there is a lightweight access solution. Relying on the “out-of-the-box” graphical interface, you can quickly carry out cross-border collection and payment business without complicated development. For institutions that do not have independent access conditions for the time being, an agent access mode is provided, relying on transfers from existing mature participants to further lower the participation threshold and broaden participation channels.
For financial infrastructure, it also supports rapid standardized docking through cross-border gateways.
In addition, CBETS can adapt to multiple scene ecology and meet different business development needs.
Different from traditional wholesale and retail payment systems, the platform promotes the empowerment of emerging technologies on the scene side and provides more intelligent end-to-end services on the basis of basic cross-border remittance services.
Relying on smart contract technology, trade value-added services such as guaranteed payment and order payment can be expanded. At the same time, supporting tools such as umbrella wallets and information comparison can be used to solve cross-border e-commerce domestic payment splitting, order information verification and other pain points, greatly improving the level of cross-border payment services.
According to reports, CBETS has three outstanding advantages: first, lower access costs and higher settlement efficiency. The platform adopts a componentized and modular architecture to provide flexible access options. It organically integrates retail and wholesale, on-chain and off-chain payment, clearing, and settlement services, greatly simplifying business processes and optimizing service experience; second, system services are standardized and compatible, and are compatible with centralized systems and blockchain on the technical route.
The system, unified management of settlement liquidity, is compatible with ISO20022 in terms of message standards, making it easy to connect with the internal systems of commercial banks, and at the same time covering off-chain and on-chain trade finance information transmission and payment services. Third, the participation arrangements are highly inclusive and the business scenarios are scalable. Qualified commercial banks, financial infrastructure and payment service providers can apply for access. The platform also provides standardized transfer services to support the interconnection between banks and enterprises to avoid cost and efficiency issues caused by multi-party docking.
Currently, CBETS can handle digital RMB cross-border consumption scenario businesses such as barcode payment and Pengpeng. It can also handle businesses such as remittances, trade, investment and financing settlements, etc. It can also support the digital innovation business of financial institutions. In the future, it can rapidly iterate system functions according to the business needs of participating institutions.
As a comprehensive service system upgraded from the three major business platforms, CBETS is based on a unified technology base and flexibly supports the three major subsystem businesses through modular design, jointly building a complete cross-border payment service covering both off-chain and on-chain, taking into account retail and wholesale, and supporting trade and finance.
System: Relying on the cross-border digital payment platform, we build an efficient and standard cross-border payment channel. Currently, it has achieved interconnection and interoperability with the local payment systems of Hong Kong and Laos, and has launched a cross-border business pilot in Singapore. It is also promoting the interconnection and interoperability between Macau’s relevant digital payment systems and CBETS; according to
The blockchain service platform consolidates a safe and trustworthy on-chain interoperability base, adapts to securities settlement, property rights transfer, transaction registration, supply chain finance, cross-border payment and other businesses, and can realize the “multi-flow integration” of logistics, capital flow, document flow, etc. in complex cross-border scenarios, and reshape the multi-party trust-building mechanism; relying on
The digital asset platform ensures the settlement and circulation of compliant digital assets, provides payment and settlement services for various financial market infrastructures, supports the digital innovation of compliant assets, realizes payment versus payment between compliant digital assets and on-chain digital renminbi, and builds an efficient, safe, and compliant on-chain digital asset system.
The relevant person in charge stated that the core design concept of CBETS is to “empower participating institutions to reuse existing network links and local standards”, which not only minimizes redundant investment, but also effectively promotes the implementation of the vision of “one point of access, universal network”. In the future, it will continue to strengthen cooperation with various countries in the field of cross-border payments, practice integration and interoperability, and promote the development of the global cross-border payment system in a more efficient, secure and inclusive direction.
