Ant Group joins hands with the central bank to launch China's first stablecoin

Original
Official announcement of the "Rare Earth Stablecoin" project on August 5, 2025

On August 1, Ant Group, in collaboration with the People's Bank of China and China Rare Earth Group, officially launched the world's first rare earth-backed stablecoin—RESDC (Rare Earth Special RMB). This is not only China's first stablecoin supported by the central bank but may also become an important milestone in the history of digital currency development.

1. Ant Group's Stablecoin: Innovation in Technology + Finance

As a leading fintech company in China, Ant Group's collaboration with the central bank to launch RESDC is primarily based on its blockchain technology (Ant Chain). This technology ensures:

✅ Transactions completed in seconds (traditional cross-border payments take 3-5 days)

✅ Costs reduced by 80% (eliminating intermediaries like banks and SWIFT)

✅ 100% transparency and traceability (each transaction corresponds to real rare earth trade)

This means that when Chinese companies export rare earths, overseas buyers can pay directly with RESDC, funds are received in real-time, and there is no need to worry about exchange rate fluctuations or high transaction fees.



2. The Uniqueness of the Rare Earth Stablecoin: Dual Anchoring Mechanism

Ordinary stablecoins (like USDT) usually only anchor to the US dollar or gold, while RESDC adopts a dual support of "RMB + Rare Earth":

- 1 RESDC = 1 yuan (backed by central bank reserves)

- Correspondingly backed by a certain amount of rare earth reserves (such as praseodymium, neodymium and other key metals)

This design makes RESDC not only a payment tool but also a "strategic resource digital currency," which could change the settlement method of global bulk commodity trade.

3. Impact on the Digital Currency Market

(1) Challenging the Dollar Stablecoin Hegemony

Currently, 90% of stablecoins globally (like USDT, USDC) are pegged to the US dollar, and the emergence of RESDC means that the RMB has established its own stablecoin system in the digital currency field for the first time. If key minerals like lithium and cobalt adopt a similar model in the future, the dominance of the dollar in digital payments may be weakened.

(2) Promoting the Internationalization of "Digital RMB (e-CNY)"

RESDC can be seamlessly exchanged with digital RMB, and overseas companies may be forced to hold RMB assets to purchase Chinese rare earths, thereby accelerating the internationalization process of the RMB.