On January 16, the State Duma Council considered and placed on the agenda for first reading the bill on the digital ruble. This was reported by «Коммерсант».
The document grants the Bank of Russia authority to create and manage the infrastructure needed for the operation of the new form of the national currency.
The bill aims to “develop the payment infrastructure,” “increase accessibility, speed, convenience and security of settlements while reducing costs” by “legislatively codifying approaches to transferring digital rubles”.
The document is of a framework nature; the central bank will develop the detailed regulatory framework. In particular, the regulator will set tariffs for the platform operator’s services and the amounts of remuneration paid to its participants.
It will also determine the maximum fee charged by platform participants from its users and the upper limits on the size of operations with digital rubles and on balances held in digital wallets.
The Bank of Russia will also develop the procedures, the list of operations and the timelines by which credit institutions must provide clients with access to digital-ruble operations. The regulator is obliged to monitor the platform’s uninterrupted operation, ensure the safekeeping of the digital rubles and the accuracy of records of operations involving them.
The bill explicitly notes that the digital ruble is not a digital currency.
The central bank expects the bill to be passed in the spring session. A pilot project using real digital rubles is planned to begin in April.
The prototype platform for the digital ruble was launched in January 2022 with the participation of five banks. Together with the regulator they tested the issuance of the asset, opened digital wallets, and transfers between citizens.
In total, 12 banks were included in the initial group for piloting the project 12 banks.
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