Bank of Russia to make transfers of digital rubles between individuals free

Transfers of digital rubles between individuals in Russia are planned to be free, while a fee may be charged for payments for goods using them, similar to the current regime in the Faster Payments System (SBP). This was announced by Olga Skorobogatova, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, at a press conference.

The Bank of Russia will determine the question of fees later.

«We preliminarily believe that transfers from an individual to an individual should be free, while transfers used to pay for goods and services may incur a fee, but not more than the current level in the SBP,» said Skorobogatova.

She also confirmed that the prototype platform for the digital ruble is planned to be presented by the end of the current year, and the asset will begin testing in 2022.

The issuer of the digital ruble will be the Bank of Russia; assets will be stored on electronic wallets at the Bank of Russia, and users will be able to access them through apps from their banks.

For offline settlements, a second digital wallet will be created directly on the user’s device.

At the same time, Skorobogatova noted that to date there are no ready technologies for such an offline mode in Russia or anywhere in the world.

«We at the Bank of Russia understand clearly that we will make this decision ourselves. We have an understanding and approaches on how we want to implement the offline mode,» she said.

Plans to develop changes to the legislation are slated for early 2022. Earlier, about the need for amendments to the laws in connection with the launch of the digital ruble, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, said.

In the initial phase, the Bank of Russia will test digital ruble operations with credit institutions for the simplest payments and transfers, such as transfers from an individual to an individual, and payments for services from an individual to a legal entity, noted Skorobogatova.

If the testing is successful, the Bank of Russia will proceed to test other digital ruble operations, including transfers for tax payments, budget payments and others.

During the press conference, Deputy Governor Alexei Zabotkin also said that the regulator «strongly objects to stablecoins».

«Because drawing a clear line between those organisations that have sufficient creditworthiness to meet this obligation, and those whose creditworthiness may not be absolute, is quite difficult», — he said.

In these circumstances, a stablecoin is a «very dangerous instrument that can seriously undermine the monetary policy mechanism and create risks to financial stability», added Zabotkin.

Skorobogatova added that the regulator allows for the creation of tokenised cashless rubles.

As reported, the Bank of Russia presented the report on the issuance of the digital ruble in October 2020. A detailed analysis of the document can be read in ForkLog’s exclusive.

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