MOSCOW—While support, opposition and debate continue to take place in the United States over a digital dollar, the Bank of Russia has confirmed that 17 additional banks are starting to onboard for a digital ruble pilot.
Those banks include Russia’s largest, Sber. So far, 13 banks have been involved in the central bank digital currency pilots that started last August. It has involved 600 consumers and 30 other companies, according to Ledger Insights.
“When creating the digital ruble platform, we included the possibility of its integration with similar foreign platforms,” said Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of the Bank of Russia, Ledger Insights reported. “We are currently conducting consultations and negotiations with many friendly countries and, of course, with the BRICS countries, on cross-border payments through digital currencies.”
Ongoing Discussions
The report further stated Nabiullina confirmed that while cryptocurrencies can’t be used for payments within Russia, there is support for their use in foreign trade, but the legislation is still being discussed in the State Duma.
Given that Russia is subject to widespread sanctions, the Ledger Insights report noted the governor acknowledged the risk of secondary sanctions has increased. “But what does this lead to? In my opinion, it’s time to step up efforts to create alternative payment methods. Businesses in all countries are working on this,” she said.
Locked Out
“Since it invaded Ukraine, Russia has been locked out of the cross-border payment system Swift. The Governor mentioned Russia’s Swift alternative, the Financial Message Transmission System, which is connected to 20 countries so far. She said there are discussions about interoperating with similar platforms in other countries. While she didn’t give specifics, China’s CIPS connects to 113 countries,” Ledger Insights said.
The Ideal Gift For Yourself or a Loved One This Valentine’s Day!
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more. So stop paying those bank-fee-like subscription prices from other so-called “news” publications!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?