- Russia begins plan of digital ruble
- Yet to decide on when the coin would be rolled out for users
The central bank of Russia, like every other central bank in the world, has begun its preparation for a digital ruble that would be complementing the functions of physical money in the country.
The country recently released a consultation document in which the crypto asset would be acceptable as a means of payment for goods and services by business organizations, non-profit organization, the government and all of its agencies in the country.
The Russian central bank noted that the coin would become available on e-wallets of citizens and they can be able to assess the wallet both online and offline. Not only that, the digital ruble would basically have all of the functions of money and as such, it would be a way of making transactions faster, cheaper and more efficient.
The government had hitherto expressed interest in dabbling into the crypto asset industry but with the release of a consultation paper, the government has shown more seriousness in its pursuit of unifying crypto asset.
Digital Ruble not Crypto Ruble
Many had suspected that the Russian government was going to name the country’s digital cryptocurrency as CryptoRuble, but in August, Sberbank, announced that the Russian government was seriously thinking of a coin that would be backed by ruble. This most likely had played a part in the naming of the coin as Digital Ruble.
The Central Bank also tried to temper expectations of the stablecoin in its statement when it said that a concrete decision was yet to be made about the integration and implementation of the coin and as such, it would be a bad idea to release a date as when the coin would be fully integrated with the Russian economy.
The Russian government is not the only one making an attempt at creating a digital currency for citizens of the country. There have been cases of different countries central bank announcing their intention of creating a digital currency to complement physical cash in their country.
