Olga Skorobogatova, Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, said that the digital ruble platform is a new opportunity for the citizens of the country, businesses and the state. He said that it would be free to transfer in digital ruble. Businesses will also be given the same facility, which will reduce their cost.
The issuance of the ‘Digital Ruble’ is believed to be initiated by opening a digital wallet and initiating the transfer process. The next stage will be the testing of goods and services payments. Bank of Russia has indicated that it is also ready to offer the option of offline payments and transactions with non-resident users.
According to a report by Finextra, VTB Bank and PSB are among the 12 financial institutions that are participating in Bank of Russia’s CBDC pilot program. Both the banks have successfully tested it. Some other institutions are also a part of this pilot program. These include Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, Gazprombank, Tinkoff Bank, Promsvyazbank, Rosbank, Ak Bars Bank, Dom.RF Bank, SKB-Bank, Soyuz and TKB Bank.
Significantly, there is an atmosphere of uncertainty in Russia regarding cryptocurrencies. Russia’s Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance have expressed different stances. Last month, Russia’s Central Bank proposed a complete ban on cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Finance suggested that it may be more beneficial to introduce regulation on cryptocurrencies.
A few days ago it was reported that the government and the Bank of Russia have entered into an agreement to regulate cryptocurrencies. In this, crypto will be defined as an ‘analog of currencies’ instead of DFA (Digital Financial Assets). Along with this, crypto can be used legally with full identity only through the banking system or licensed intermediaries.
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