UPDATE: Central bank says assesses digital ruble issuance

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MOSCOW, Oct 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian central bank is assessing the possibility of issuing the digital ruble, but has not made any decision yet as the regulator finds it necessary to scrutinize the matter actively and profoundly to be ready to move duly, the central bank said on Tuesday.

“The central bank of Russia aims at having the currency system that will correspond to the changing demand of citizens and business, contribute to introduction of innovations on the financial market and in the economy on the whole,” the regulator said.

“The decision on issuance of the digital ruble has not been made yet, and it is still early to speak about these or those terms of its implementation. We believe that already now we need an active and deep study of the matter both from the economic and technological points of view.”

The central bank said it will work closely with the society, experts, and participants of the financial market.

“The digital ruble will be a digital form of the national currency and will possess all essential properties to function as money. The central bank will issue the digital ruble. The digital ruble will become an additional form of money, circulating along with cash and cashless rubles. There will be provided a seamless payment space in Russia and simplicity of conversion of the ruble from one form into another,” the regulator said.

Additional payment infrastructure will be needed to introduce the digital ruble, the bank also said.

The regulator added that it will make a decision on the digital ruble issuance after development of a platform for such a currency and its piloting on a limited circle of users. Terms will be set later.

If introduced, the digital ruble will make settlements possible anywhere in the country and may be used to pay salaries, allowances or other social payments because accounts of the Federal Treasury are in the central bank and it will have no restrictions to exchange cashless rubles for digital ones.

 “Redistribution of assets between deposits of the banks and the digital currency of the central bank will impact balances of the banks and their need in transactions they carry out with the central bank and may exert extra pressure on formation of rates on bank deposits and loans. It should be also taken into consideration in the monetary policy,” the regulator also said.

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