Someone from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation said that by the end of 2022, the bank plans to build and test a digital ruble prototype. If you want to trade Bitcoin, you may use a reputable platform like https://bitcoin-motion.software/.
Alexei Zabotkin, Vice Chairman of the Central Bank, said on March 10 at a conference by Rossiyskaya Ekonomicheskaya Shkola that the Bank of Russia is working on its own central bank digital currency. The Russian news site Prime wrote about this on March 10. (CBDC).
Zabotkin also said that the central bank thinks tests of digital money will start in 2022. At the time, he was speaking at the Blockchain Life conference. Nabiullina said Russia’s laws must be changed before the CBDC can be used there. A Russian news site called Izvestia said that Aksakov also discussed this topic at the start of February.
Aksakov said that the government needs to change several laws, such as the civil code and the crypto assets and payment systems rules. He also said that because digital currency is a new kind of money, the law needs to change how it is defined. He also said that a technical pilot must first test any new rules.
In digital form, what does a ruble look like?
Russia is not the first country to update its banking and money systems by making it easier to use digital currency.
In 2020, the Bahamas was the first place in the world to have its digital currency. Nigeria made the e-Naira in 2021. It was digital money that could be used to buy things in stores and send money to other countries.
Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis all have their digital currency. All of these countries are part of the Eastern Caribbean Union. Jamaica says it will come out with its digital currency this year.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has started the “research phase” of its plan to turn the euro into a digital currency in October 2021. All over Europe, this phase will last for two years. The e-krona is already used in Sweden.
India wants to use a digital rupee between 2022 and 2023. At the Beijing Winter Olympics this year, China used a digital yuan. The economies of these two countries are among the largest in the world.
When will it be available for Russia to buy?
The head of Russia’s Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said that making digital currency was the bank’s top goal and that a prototype was made “quite quickly.
In April this year, Reuters says that Nabiullina told the Russian Parliament, “We put together a model quickly. Now, we are testing with banks, and over the next year, there will be more and more pilot transactions.”
A month ago, Russia said a pilot project using the digital ruble with real customers and real transactions would start in April 2023. The original plan, which hasn’t been shown, was made a long time ago. This is probably because the West has put in place strict sanctions.
Moscow has said that it would like to be able to use the digital ruble to buy things in other countries by next year. Because of restrictions, Russia can’t use the international banking system right now, but it could still use digital currency to pay for things at home and abroad.
Whether or not Russia can use the digital ruble to pay for things in other countries depends on whether or not other countries will accept the money as is, without first changing it to dollars.
But for countries in Western Europe, the most important thing to worry about is whether or not Russia will be able to start its digital currency.