The Bank of Russia has opposed issuing stablecoins based on the ruble. This was said by Sergey Shvetsov, First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia.
Developers of smart contracts within the Russian Federation should use as the crypto asset the digital ruble issued by the Bank of Russia. In its approach, the central bank relies on China’s experience, which, in preparing to launch a national digital currency, banned stablecoins on the yuan.
“We are not far from this. At least anything that will be used as a means of payment will be stopped by us. We base our stance on the fact that the ruble is the payment instrument of the Russian Federation,” he said.
Going forward, the Bank of Russia plans to bring the issue to the Duma for discussion. The regulator’s initial reaction to the initiative was positive.
Earlier in October, the financial regulator of the Russian Federation presented a report on the digital ruble. Under the Bank of Russia’s plan, the new asset will be an addition to the existing forms of money tied to the value of the national currency.
In the case of approval of the digital ruble project, it will be tested by commercial banks.
Given that the digital ruble could affect banks’ business models, at the end of November the Bank of Russia discussed introducing the digital ruble with representatives of the largest financial institutions, including Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Moscow Credit Bank, Russian Standard Bank and others.
For more on how the regulator envisions its own digital currency, read ForkLog’s exclusive.
Accessibility and traceability: how the Bank of Russia sees the digital ruble
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