China’s RMB push goes global – where crypto fits in
China is rapidly expanding the renminbi’s footprint in cross‑border finance. External RMB loans, deposits and bond investments by Chinese banks have climbed to roughly RMB 3.4 trillion (≈$480bn) – about four times the level five years ago.
With US and EU sanctions risk rising and domestic interest rates lower, Beijing is nudging trade and sovereign borrowers toward RMB credit and away from dollar‑ and euro‑linked debt. BIS data point to a turning point since 2022: developing‑country borrowers have shifted meaningfully into RMB‑denominated lending.
Trade-finance tells the same story: the RMB’s global share has quadrupled in three years to ~7.6%, second only to the U.S. dollar.
Plumbing is catching up to policy. Beijing has broadened swap lines and offshore clearing banks and pushed transactions through CIPS, China’s cross‑border payments system, even as RMB’s share of SWIFT messages wobbles. Hong Kong is being retooled as the fixed‑income hub for offshore RMB: a bond‑market “road map” aims to deepen issuance and liquidity.
Mainland rules now let foreign investors repo RMB assets for RMB cash – a key step if you want global holders to treat RMB bonds as working collateral rather than buy‑and‑hold ornaments. Recent deals from Kazakhstan and planned issues by Indonesia and Slovenia underscore the rate advantage: lower onshore yields make RMB funding attractive versus dollars.
For markets, this is less about replacing the dollar outright and more about building a multi‑polar funding stack. More trade invoicing in RMB and more offshore collateral means more price discovery, more hedging, and more reasons for regional treasurers to keep RMB cash balances. As these rails deepen, expect migration of some flows off SWIFT into CIPS where counterparties allow it.
RMB’s digital perimeter is growing, but on Beijing’s terms. The first regulated offshore CNH stablecoin, AxCNH, launched in Kazakhstan to facilitate cross‑border settlement on public chains. By the way, we recently discussed this topic with representatives of WhiteBIT Kazakhstan in an exclusive interview for GNcrypto.
At the same time, Hong Kong built a legal regime for fiat‑backed stablecoins, yet major Mainland techs reportedly paused HK stablecoin plans at the center’s request–signaling that RMB internationalisation in digital form will likely flow through official channels (e‑CNY pilots, mBridge, tokenized funds and bonds), not private consumer coins.
Tokenized RMB products are emerging. This summer saw the debut of a RMB‑denominated tokenized money‑market‑style fund in Hong Kong – small in size but important as collateral that can live on programmable rails. As bond‑market transparency and repo access improve, expect more RMB‑on‑chain wrappers used for treasury, trade collateral and settlement in Asia corridors.
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