The Bank of Russia starts public discussion on the issue of the digital ruble

The Bank of Russia has published an advisory report on the possibilities and prospects of issuing a digital ruble for wide public discussion.

According to the report, the digital ruble will be issued by the Bank of Russia, combining the properties of cash and non-cash money. Each coin will have its own number and unique digital code. All subjects of the economy will be able to use the digital ruble: government bodies, enterprises, financial market participants and ordinary citizens. One digital ruble will be equivalent to one Russian ruble.

Citizens will be able to freely exchange the digital ruble for cash or non-cash rubles. The digital ruble can be used to pay for goods and services, making payments and money transfers, as well as to pay for transactions using financial instruments and digital financial assets (CFA).

Using the digital ruble, it will be possible to make payments and settlements both online, and in the absence of access to the Internet in sparsely populated and hard-to-reach areas. If there is no connection, users will be able to reserve a certain amount of digital rubles in their electronic wallet. Online transactions will be performed by analogy with non-cash payments, when e-wallets are involved, payment or mobile apps.

The document states, that the digital ruble can improve the speed and security of payments, will reduce commissions for making transactions and money transfers, and will also increase competition among financial institutions. Besides, it will stimulate the development of the digital economy and retail payments, and will also increase the stability of the country's financial system.

The Bank of Russia considers the digital ruble not as a substitute for cash or non-cash money, and as a supplement to the Russian national currency. Recall, что в прошлом году ЦБ РФ выступил против легализации криптовалют в качестве платежного средства на территории России, and with 1 january 2021 year, accepting payments in cryptocurrencies will be prohibited by the law on CFA.

At the same time, the Bank of Russia notes, that the digital ruble does not belong to cryptocurrencies, since in most countries cryptocurrencies are prohibited to pay for goods and services. The stability of the digital ruble will be ensured by the state and directly by the central bank. Date of issue of the digital ruble has not been determined, поэтому ЦБ РФ открыт к обсуждению ключевых аспектов, advantages, possible risks, stages and timing of this initiative.