In Russia, officials tout benefits of moving business to the digital ruble.

The introduction of the digital ruble will help entrepreneurs significantly cut the acquiring fees charged by banks. This is reported by «Известия» citing the president of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Sergey Katyrin.

According to the Bank of Russia, commission for trade and service enterprises accepting payments in digital rubles will be no more than 0.3%, while acquiring rates for business reach 2.5%.

«Thus, this amounts to a multi-million-ruble saving on transactions for Russian entrepreneurs. As a result, the new form is likely to quickly gain popularity among business circles», — explained the president of the CCI.

At the same time, for adapting payments using the new financial instrument, businesses will need to reassess their structure with an emphasis on full digitalisation.

«Payments in digital currency possess the greatest degree of transparency, meaning tracking transactions will become easier. And this, in turn, should further stimulate the formalisation of business in the country», — added Katyrin.

Earlier Russian analysts reported that the introduction of CBDC could hit banks and benefit retailers. They estimated potential annual losses for financial institutions in 50 billion rubles.

Earlier, on July 24, President Vladimir Putin signed a law to implement the digital ruble and create the corresponding electronic platform.

The law designates the Bank of Russia as the operator of the CBDC platform.