The emergence of new financial opportunities for citizens and businesses that meet the needs of the digital world increases the competitiveness of the entire economy. Therefore, the Bank of Russia, whose goals include the development of the national payment system, is studying the possibility of issuing digital currency of the Central Bank (CBDC) — digital ruble.
The digital ruble is an obligation of the Central Bank, is implemented through digital technologies and has nothing to do with crypto currency. It is a fiat currency, i.e. a currency whose stability of functioning is ensured by the state represented by the Central Bank.
The Bank of Russia’s Digital Ruble advisory report presents possible options and ways to implement such a solution, as well as the necessary functional requirements. Taking into account that the introduction of the digital ruble will become a significant event for the economy and society, the Bank of Russia considers it crucial to discuss key aspects, advantages, possible risks, stages and terms of this project with the financial sector, expert community and all interested parties.
The Roscongress Foundation presents the salient points of the publication accompanied by fragments of broadcasts of relevant panel discussions from the business programme of international events held by the Roscongress Foundation.
The introduction of the national digital currency will stimulate innovation in both retail payments and other areas, and support the development of the digital economy.
The use of non-cash money has been growing in recent years. The digital ruble may become a new convenient additional means of calculation for both buyers and sellers, including in remote, sparsely populated and hard-to-reach areas where access to financial infrastructure is limited. Thanks to the digital ruble, financial services will become more accessible and thus improve the quality of life.
A national digital currency will also limit the risk of redistributing funds to foreign digital currencies, contributing to macroeconomic and financial stability.
Like banknotes, each of which has its own number, the «units» of the digital ruble will be identified by a unique digital code.
The digital ruble will be available to all subjects of economy — citizens, business, participants of the financial market, the state. Like cash and non-cash rubles, the digital ruble will perform all three functions of money: a means of payment, a measure of cost and a means of saving. All three forms of the Russian ruble will be absolutely equivalent: one ruble in cash is now equivalent to one non-cash ruble, and one digital ruble will be equivalent to each of them.
Just like cash and non-cash rubles, the digital ruble can be used to pay for goods and services, to make payments to organizations and the state, to make money transfers, to pay for transactions with financial instruments and with digital financial assets.
The digital ruble is not regarded as a substitute for cash or non-cash rubles, but is seen as a supplement to these familiar and convenient forms of money.
From citizens` perspectives, operations with digital ruble can be considered similar to the use of electronic wallets, payment or mobile apps. Digital ruble transactions will be conducted both online and offline. For offline operations, without access to communication networks, users will be able to preliminarily reserve a certain amount of digital rubles in their electronic wallet, just as they now take cash when they go to places where one may not accept payment cards. And in the online mode operations can be carried out similarly to non-cash payments.
It is possible to top up your funds in the digital ruble from a bank account or a card, as well as from cash. Each form of ruble (cash, non-cash, digital) can be transferred to any other form.
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