The Head of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina during a press conference last Friday announced the possible pilot launch of the digital ruble at the end of 2021, TDH news agency reported on Tuesday with reference to the RT news agency.
According to the report, the new form of money will receive an electronic code, but at the same time it will not be a cryptocurrency. Along with paper and non-cash rubles, the digital national currency can be used as a means of payment and savings. The digital ruble will be available to everyone: citizens, businesses, financial market participants, and the state and could make payments faster and safer.
According to the experts, in the future, payment in digital rubles may become the safest way of a financial transaction.
“If a decision is made on the feasibility of launching the digital ruble, we will prepare a full-fledged concept,” Nabiullina noted during the press conference.
On October 13, the Bank of Russia presented a report on the creation and implementation of a digital national currency. At the same time, the final decision on launching the project has not yet been made. So, by the end of 2020, the Central Bank will accept proposals and feedback on the initiative from representatives of the financial sector and the expert community, according to the report.
“We are really interested in discussing the prospects of introducing the digital ruble very broadly - with society, with enterprises, with business. On the one hand, this project is promising. In our opinion, it fits very organically into what is called the development of the digital economy as a whole," Nabiullina noted.
The Bank of Russia is considering making the digital ruble available offline as well as via the internet.
