The Bank of Russia is considering the introduction of charges for transfers in the digital ruble, though no final decision on this matter has been made. This was stated in an interview with «Известиям» by the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina.
She noted that it is not so much about a fee for transferring from one form to another, “although this is possible”.
«There should be no fees within a single bank, nor should there be fees for C2C transfers in the digital ruble. For C2B payments, the commissions can be discussed: what additional costs may arise in transfers of digital rubles, here the policies of banks and the payment system must be taken into account», — she added.
The head of the central bank stressed that, even if fees were introduced, “they will be lower than those currently in place and will reduce costs for citizens and businesses”.
Nabiullina also stated that a key property of the digital ruble is that it is guaranteed by the central bank and “will be preserved in this sense regardless of which bank serves the client”.
The main advantage of the new asset, she said, is the ability to preserve the digital ruble, for example in the event of a loss of the device:
«There is the possibility to create such a system, since each digital ruble will have its own unique number that will allow it to be recovered if the gadget is lost. But it is important to consider how to prevent fraudulent schemes in this case».
According to the central bank chief, most participants in discussions of the digital ruble concept advocated introducing a two-tier system with the involvement of financial intermediaries.
She stressed that the regulator does not expect “some rapid change in the structure of the money supply”:
«We still need to create a prototype and test it before the digital ruble is widely adopted. We must develop this entire system technologically from the perspective of information security, resilience to cyber risks, and implement it in a mature form».
Earlier, deputy chairman Alexey Zabotkin said that the regulator plans to present a prototype of the digital ruble platform by the end of the current year, and testing is scheduled for 2022.
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