According to local news outlet Interfax, the Central Bank of Russia has begun testing its stablecoin, which has been confirmed to be tied to a basket of unidentified real assets, in its regulatory sandbox. Russian Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina further clarified that the project is merely to explore the use of stablecoins and that the bank is not looking for the stablecoin to become a means of payment at the moment.
“First of all, we need to understand what will be the advantages for our citizens, for businesses. For example, when we develop fast payment systems and expand the applications to cover not only settlements between individuals, but also between legal entities,” said Nabiullina.
She also stated that Russia does not look towards “private currency”, or cryptocurrency favourably.
“Here is the ideology that is being brought up – in essence, the creation of a system of private money, without government intervention… We are against private money. If manby digital currencies were designed as a replacement for private money, we cannot support this,” Nabuillina emphasized, according to a report by TokenPost.
The creation of a digital ruble can have unforeseen impacts on the country’s economic systems, and this is why there is a need for Russia to learn from the experiences of other countries in the midst of creating and introducing their own digital currencies before making any plans for a digital ruble.
