Bank of Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), testing has faced some delays due to the lawmaking process, however participating banks in the testing have expressed their readiness to proceed with the CBDC pilot.
As reported by the state-owned TASS on March 28, the CBDC pilot program will not begin on April 1, as previously stated, because the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, has only completed the first reading of specific legislation. The measure may be enacted by early May, according to TASS.
The number of participating private banks has also decreased from 15 to 13. In addition to Ingosstrakh, one of the major insurance businesses in the country, some bank workers would serve as test subjects for CBDC retail payments.
The bank executives were enthusiastic about the concept. Vitaly Kopysov, the director of innovations at Sinara Bank, told journalists:
“The use of smart contracts should reduce the operational load of banks and make the deals transparent, which not only will reduce the chances of the misuse of government and banks’ funds, but ultimately simplify the control over the existing contracts.”
The forthcoming pilot will feature actual operations and limited consumer participation. General customers would not be allowed to join in the initial phase, as banks will only begin the pilot program with a select group of clients. After the initial phase, the Bank of Russia aims to assess how to further scale the digital ruble.
Originally intended for 2024, the consumer CBDC pilot was accelerated because the Russian central bank sought an alternative to the SWIFT payments system in response to Western economic sanctions.
