The digital ruble, the digital currency of the Bank of Russia (CBDC), is ready for the pilot phase, Olga Skorobogatova, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, said on Friday.
The digital ruble will begin testing in April.
Russia Begins Piloting Digital Ruble in April
Skorobogatova told reporters during a fintech conference in Russia that the project will be launched for peer-to-peer transfers and retail purchases between individuals.
“The pilot application will work on real operations for real people, but only for a limited number of people, with 13 banks reporting their readiness,” Skorobogatova said, according to Russian news agency TASS.
He added that the central bank will pilot CBDC with selected client groups. After the pilot, the Bank of Russia will decide how to scale the project, according to TASS.
The Central Bank of Russia first proposed the CBDC project in October 2020, by publishing an advisory outlining potential designs for the digital ruble.
The bank later said that the project could help reduce the Russian economy’s dependence on the US dollar and ease the impact of foreign sanctions on Russia.
The pilot was originally expected to go live in 2021 but has raised some concerns in the Russian banking community that building infrastructure for the digital ruble would be burdensome for lenders and would make the banking system more centralized and less diversified.
The Central Bank of Russia then promised to change the concept in a way that would not harm the traditional system. of the project cryptocurrencies It is not known whether it will use the Blockchain technology behind it.
*Not investment advice.
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