Float/convertibility/liquidity is to be blunt, libtard/normie conflation of what reserve currency actually needs to be - reserve doesn't need to facilitate liquidity, it just needs to, for structural reasons be save-haven. Currencies are safe historically for one reason, the host country controls techstack that enables modernity. USD turn reserve because postwar US only surviving industrialized advanced economy, anyone that wants to elopement to modern standard, required US capita goods and techstack, then US threw SLOC/energy control into mix - modernity for most of world literally gated behind USD, it being liquid + safe + returns is icing on cake, but ultimately if countries didn't want to be shit hole, they need to get USD.

That is what PRC is increasingly capable of offering, except on controlled / close loop, bilateral basis (i.e. panda bonds). PRC is offering near complete discounted tech stack for modernity (now including power+storage, still catching up on semi and commercial aviation). But they're not going walmart reserve, they're costco membership premium, not everyone gets the privilege of buying premium yuan, only validated parties get special swap arrangements. This has nothing to do with citizen Liu from Shanghai having capital controls.

The key thing to understand is system not limited like system competing kind of kind, one take over other, system very well be different reserve/premium models that coexist but antagonistic towards each other, i.e I argue PRC _WANTS_ to hold on to reserve plumbing while PRC strips out all the privilege and saddle US with only exorbitant cost. Like half the reason US military capitalization has gone to shit in the last 10 years is because US debt servicing. US hooked on debt which reinforces money printer addiction. Meanwhile PRC looks to maintain their "premium" currency route with none of the downsides of triffin / deindustrialization etc from being liquid reserve. PRC doesn't have to be sole reserve replacement, they can be competing reserve with less structural downsides that increases burden of USD reserve into albatross, it's less about yuan winning (and it may) but making sure US bleeds.