The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has announced plans to introduce “the digital ruble” as an alternative to cryptocurrencies that are banned in the country.
A digital currency that isn’t a cryptocurrency? It’s a bit confusing, but the CBR can see that the rapid growth of fintech solutions – both by start-ups and the existing players in the banking sector – need a form of the ruble that is a bit more friendly to electronic transfers than simply holding numbers in an electronic ledger, but at the same time doesn’t want to go all the way to creating a blockchain structure to create and trade the digital coins.
In mid-October, CBR released a paper on the prospects of introducing a digital currency, which would be called Central Bank Digital Currency, or CBDC. That paper was backed by an article from Alexey Zabotkin, CBR deputy governor, published in Econs journal.
Read more: https://www.bne.eu/russia-s-regulator-to-create-a-new-digital-currency-194385/?source=russia
