The president of the Bank of Russia said that seven banks would join the tests with the digital ruble. The deputy governor of the institution noted that their reserves were running out, but they could enable payments with the CBDC by December.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has had severe economic consequences for the former. The Central Bank of the Eurasian country has advanced the development of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) or digital ruble. However, they disagree with regulating the use of Bitcoin as a payment method.
Olga Skorobogatova, the first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, considers that they have to implement the digital ruble in the coming years.
The Russian official believes that they should accelerate the tests and reform some laws. News portal RBC reported that this would allow using the digital ruble sooner.
Skorobogatova announced that the government would begin to implement the Russian digital currency for paying for goods and services between September and December.
Elvira Nabiullina, the president of the Bank of Russia, told the State Duma that seven banks would join the tests with the digital ruble.
The director of the financial agency said that they began the tests with the banks in January 2022. She explained that five banks are participating, and seven more are completing improvements to join the process.
The sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine seem to have accelerated the digital ruble project. Nabiullina recently stated that Russian reserves were running out and that the real economic crisis might break out before the third quarter of 2022.
The above restrictions aimed to prevent Russia from using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to evade international punishment. The most recent sanctions with that objective emerged within the European Union.
The authorities of the Bank of Russia have made it clear that they do not want any relationship with decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. Their opposition to the regulation project carried out by the Ministry of Finance could have contributed to their interest in accelerating the digital ruble.
The Bank of Russia Considers that Bitcoin Is Not Viable to Avoid Sanctions
In early April, the Bank of Russia expressed that it rejected using cryptocurrencies to avoid restrictions and considered it impossible.
The authorities of the financial agency believe that it would be impossible for Russian companies to transfer large amounts of money to cryptocurrencies. The European Union, the US, the UK, Japan, and Singapore have established surveillance measures to prevent the Russians from relying on cryptocurrencies.
The Bank of Russia also stated that many exchanges apply sanctions against Russian investors, blocking their funds. For example, Coinbase restricted over 25,000 addresses linked to Russian persons or entities they believed might be doing illicit activities.
Another obstacle to the adoption of Bitcoin is the Digital Financial Assets Act, which bans using cryptocurrencies as payment for goods and services. The Central Bank of Russia considers that changing that rule is unreasonable.
Those arguments are insufficient for parliamentarian Anton Gorelkin, who favors regulating the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia. Amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, he believes that Bitcoin can help the citizens affected by the economic sanctions.
By Alexander Salazar
