TL;DR Breakdown
- Russia to begin CBDC trial 2022
- Other countries and their CBDC
Elvira Nabiullina, the Head of Russian Central Bank, has confirmed that the digital ruble would be ready for trial next year (2022), Walter Bloomberg reports. This is coming after previously announcing that they would start testing the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in April.
Russia has been talking about a CBDC for some time, and feedback and internal deliberation have resulted in this latest report. The Central Bank also marked private banks and institutions to be part of the pilot program.
The ruble remains the only legal tender that all organizations are obligated to take; however, they may accept other forms of payment through an agreement between parties to a contract.
The country is only against crypto as a means of payment and has been regulating crypto since 2019 and approved its regulation in January.
Nabiulina has previously expressed skepticism about crypto technology. She openly admitted this when Russia was about to test stablecoins. She stated categorically that other countries experimenting with the technologies make the first mistakes.
She said Russia is against private money as if many digital currencies are designed as a replacement for private money, Russia won’t support it.
Details like when exactly and where the Digital Ruble would be tested was not disclosed. The only information is that it would be ready for test next year. The aim of the test appears to be clear. Russia doesn’t want to get left behind in the FinTech race that already encompasses several major developed nations.
Outside Russia, other Countries in CBDC process
China is at the forefront with its digital yuan in developing national sovereign digital currencies, which is undergoing a wide trial phase, waiting very soon for its launch. The country has already spearheaded several successful CBDC pilots. In general, China is keen to use DLTs to digitize its economy, with authorities developing a decade-long blockchain plan.
In addition to China, the USA, the UK, and Israel are all working aggressively on developing their sovereign CBDCs.
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