Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, believes that the country’s not-yet-launched digital currency is the “highest form of money.” In a Monday interview with state media RT, Aksakov expressed optimism about Russia’s upcoming central bank digital currency, or CBDC, predicting that a digital ruble will become an integral part of national settlements in two or three years. Aksakov said that the Bank of Russia expects to finalize a digital ruble prototype by the end of 2021, and plans to issue a development roadmap in the near future. “The digital ruble is the highest form …
Amid the Bank of Russia continuing progressing with its central bank digital currency (CBDC) development, one survey suggested that few Russians are ready to accept salary payments in the digital ruble. Almost half of the Russian respondents strongly objected to receiving salaries in the digital ruble in a new survey by local recruitment site HeadHunter. Only 11% of respondents said that they were ready to get salaried in the digital ruble, while 41% indicated that they were “categorically opposed” to being paid in the CBDC, local news agency Izvestia reported on Wednesday. As Russia is preparing to roll out digital …
A number of financial institutions in Russia have expressed interest in testing the country’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC. According to an Oct. 16 report by local news agency Izvestia, at least five Russian banks are interested in taking part in Russia’s non-public digital ruble pilots in the first half of 2021. The list of banks includes state-backed Promsvyazbank, the Credit Bank of Moscow, commercial bank Zenit, mortgage bank Dom.RF, and Crimea’s Russian National Commercial Bank. As reported, the latter wants to be actively involved in the first pilots in order to provide Crimea with the “most innovative banking …
Russian financial authorities have confirmed the government’s purported plans to issue the central bank digital currency, or CBDC. On Oct. 13, the Bank of Russia released a consultation paper on the development of the digital Russian ruble. In the statement, the central bank said that the digital ruble can become an “additional form of money alongside cash and non-cash.” The establishment of Russia’s CBDC project will require the creation of additional payment infrastructure, the bank said. The bank also said that the digital ruble will have “all the necessary properties to perform the functions of money.” The project’s timing will …
Major Russian mobile network operators like MegaFon and Beeline are considering how the digital ruble will function on their mobile devices. According to a Feb. 16 report by local news agency Izvestia, Beeline and MegaFon proposed to set up smartphone wallets for Russia’s central bank digital currency. The carriers also suggested additional services like linking a digital wallet to a customer’s phone number. This would allow users to store digital rubles directly on their smartphones as well as transfer and pay with the digital currency using smart devices, a spokesperson for MegaFon said. According to Izvestia, both MegaFon and Beeline …