Report: Russia Could Begin Testing Digital Ruble in August

Russia could reportedly begin testing a digital ruble before the summer’s end.

Lawmakers in the country, whose payment systems have been hamstrung since last year due to its war with Ukraine, approved the creation of a digital currency on Wednesday (July 19), according to a report by Bloomberg News.

Once President Vladamir Putin signs that legislation into law, the report said, the Bank of Russia may begin piloting the digital ruble, possibly as early as August.

According to Bloomberg, the country’s central bank will test the digital ruble with 15 Russian lenders, and allow consumers and businesses to open a digital wallet on the central bank’s platform that will be accessible through any Russian bank.

The pilot program comes as Russians remain challenged by the economic sanctions that made it difficult to get around U.S.-dominated payment systems.

As noted here in April, companies like Mastercard and Visa have severed ties to Russia, while the country’s domestic payment system Mir is accepted by just a handful of nations.

The Bloomberg report says some lawmakers in Russia think the digital ruble could give their country an easier way to offer cross-border payments.

“In the current environment, it is important to have independent payment instruments and financial information channels that can be used in our trade with foreign partners,” Nikolay Zhuravlev, deputy chairman of the Federation Council, said during a debate on the digital ruble earlier this month.

Russia first introduced its roadmap to creating a national digital currency in 2021. With its pilot program, the country joins a host of other nations in exploring the use of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

A recent Bank of International Settlements (BIS) survey shows the increasing popularity of central bank digital currencies, with 93% of countries involved in a CBDC project at some level.

“The survey suggests that there could be 15 retail and nine wholesale CBDCs publicly circulating in 2030,” BIS said, adding that work on retail CBDCs is further along than on wholesale versions of the currency.

The BIS argues wholesale CBDCs could provide financial institutions with access to “new functionalities enabled by tokenization, such as composability and programmability.”

As PYMNTS has written, tokenized deposits “are being more widely considered and championed across far-flung corners of banking.”