Russian Central Bank Readies ‘Real-world’ CBDC Pilot – Digital Ruble Launch Imminent?
The Russian Central Bank could begin “real-world” tests on the digital ruble next month after parliament approved a key piece of CBDC legislation.
Per Interfax, the State Duma voted in favor of adopting the bill at a third reading this week.
This means the main clauses of the bill are set to pass into national law on August 1, 2023.
At the end of March, the Central Bank announced that it was ready to conduct a pilot with “real” digital ruble tokens.
The bank has struck partnerships with 13 commercial banks, and had hoped to begin testing in April, but was forced to delay the tests due to the “lack of a necessary legal framework.”
The Central Bank has been attempting to fast-track its CBDC due in part to the US-led sanctions imposed on the nation following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Sanctions have effectively frozen Russia out of dollar-powered international trade.
This has led Moscow-based firms to conduct trade deals in other currencies like the Chinese yuan, as well as cryptoassets.
Russian citizens have also been expressing an interest in opening yuan accounts, amassing crypto, and could also turn to China’s digital yuan.
But the bank bitterly opposes the use of crypto in the trade sector, even if it appears to be willing to allow firms to use “private cryptocurrencies” for the time being.
Instead, it favors solutions including interoperable CBDCs, gold-backed stablecoins, and a much-vaunted BRICS-area digital asset.
The Central Bank has been working on its CBDC for some time, but now wants to enter “real-world” testing.
To clear the path for this, it created a bill that legislates for the “creation of a platform” for the CBDC in December 2022.
The terms of the bill state that the bank has the right to bar individual
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