Russia plans CBDC tests from 2022
„Zifra ruble“: Russia plans CBDC tests from 2022 onwards
The Russian central bank is now entering the race for CBDCs. It wants to start the first field tests as early as 2022.
In Russia, the national central bank is apparently planning CBDC tests from 2022, according to a YouTube interview with the deputy governor of the central bank, Alexey Zabotkin. Currently, the final details of the „Zifra ruble“ are still being discussed. However, the first prototype should be Bitcoin Up ready by the end of the year. However, it will not be possible to carry out any transactions with it until the first field tests among the population begin in 2022.
We will probably start the [CBDC] trials next year after we have revised the prototype. We will also draw our conclusions from the findings of the Chinese, who are currently working hard on the use of the digital yuan.
Alexey Zabotkin, Deputy Governor Central Bank of Russia.
Zabotkin also addressed the implications of a national CBDC
He believes that the digital rouble would enrich the banking industry in Russia, as financial institutions could not only integrate the CBDC into the services they currently offer, but also create new financial products based on smart contracts. The effects that the „Zifra rouble“ will have on domestic monetary policy are all „controllable“. Rumours about a digital central bank currency have been circulating in Russia since October last year, when the governor of Bank Rossii, Elvira Nabiullina, already assumed that a national CBDC project could be launched at the end of 2021. It should represent a „third form of money“, she said at the time.
So now Russia is trying to catch up with China with the „Zifra rouble“. The Middle Kingdom has long been considered the ultimate in digital central bank currencies. The Southeast Asian country has been testing the digital yuan on the population for some time. Recently, a government video showed how digital yuan could be exchanged for cash at an ATM. At the same time, there is radio silence in Europe.