The Bank of Russia continues to advance the adoption of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), with an official rollout of the digital ruble scheduled for a few years from now.
The Bank of Russia will start connecting all banks and credit institutions to the digital ruble network in 2024, according to the most recent monetary policy statement from the institution. Since Russia is anticipated to hold presidential elections in March 2024 and incumbent President Vladimir Putin has the constitutional right to run for reelection, that would be a significant year for Russia.
By that time, the central bank hopes to have finished testing customer-to-customer "real money" transactions as well as customer-to-business and customer-to-customer settlements. A select number of participants will be used by the Bank of Russia to beta test digital ruble-based smart contracts in 2023.
The bank made it clear that it intends to move through with the CBDC rollout gradually, opening up fresh, distinct experiments and features year after year. The digital ruble will also support consumer-to-government, business-to-government, government-to-government, government-to-consumer, and government-to-business payments as soon as the Federal Treasury is ready, according to the Bank of Russia.
In addition, the central bank anticipates integrating non-bank financial intermediaries, financial platforms, and exchange infrastructure by 2025, along with the offline mode for the digital ruble. According to the Bank of Russia, "market participants will have the time to adapt to new conditions" due to the digital ruble's "phased introduction."
In order to conduct cross-border and foreign currency operations using digital currencies, the Bank of Russia will also collaborate with other central banks creating their own digital currencies, the authorities said.
As previously reported by CoinGabbar, following the introduction of its official CBDC plan last year, Russia launched its first testing of the digital ruble in February 2022. The Bank of Russia chose twelve banks, including well-known companies like Sber, VTB, Tinkoff Bank, and others, to test the digital ruble.
While following the CBDC deployment plan, Russia has lagged somewhat in its attempts to control the bitcoin sector. President Putin campaigned for the adoption of Russia's cryptocurrency law "On Digital Financial Assets" on multiple occasions before it was passed. The measure still lacks critical regulatory components like crypto mining, taxation, and other crucial ones, thus little has changed as a result.
