This article provides a detailed introduction to China’s launching of a digital currency. We conduct a comparative analysis concerning whether digital currency is a more stable and reliable currency than cryptocurrency and investigate whether a digital renminbi (or yuan) could replace the US dollar as a medium of exchange in international transactions. China has gained a first-mover advantage by rolling out a central bank digital currency (CBDC). But the outcome will depend on the US response as well as the future evolution of the US and Chinese economies. Most other articles on this topic focus on domestic use of the Chinese CBDC. But this study is unique in analyzing the prospects of a digital renminbi as a replacement for the US dollar in international commerce.

This article provides a detailed introduction to China’s launching of a digital currency. We conduct a comparative analysis concerning whether digital currency is a more stable and reliable currency than cryptocurrency and investigate whether a digital renminbi (or yuan) could replace the US dollar as a medium of exchange in international transactions. China has gained a first-mover advantage by rolling out a central bank digital currency (CBDC). But the outcome will depend on the US response as well as the future evolution of the US and Chinese economies. Most other articles on this topic focus on domestic use of the Chinese CBDC. But this study is unique in analyzing the prospects of a digital renminbi as a replacement for the US dollar in international commerce.

This paper examines the currency exposure and exchange rate risk management at Chinese textile and apparel exporters. Chinese exporting firms have large net exposure to the US dollar. On average a 10 percent increase in the value of the renminbi against the dollar would reduce net revenues by 5.4 percent if the firms left prices unchanged. This large exposure is driven heavily by the choice of export pricing currency by the firms. The regional distribution of sales is more balanced across the major export markets of the US, EU, and Japan. However many firms are unaware of their indirect currency risk to currencies other than the dollar and most firms undertake little or no activities to hedge their foreign currency exposure, direct or indirect. The large dollar exposure of Chinese exporters may help explain the reluctance of the People's Bank of China to allow the RMB to undergo a rapid appreciation against the dollar.