Seventeen More Banks Join Digital Ruble Testing

Seventeen additional banks have joined the pilot project for testing the digital ruble, having signed the necessary agreements. This was reported by the Central Bank of Russia.

The new participants include Sberbank, Tinkoff Bank, Rosselkhozbank, Russian Standard Bank, Novikombank, Tochka Bank, the settlement non-bank credit organization “Dengi.Mail.Ru”, Expobank, RNKB, AB “Russia”, MSP Bank, VBRR, Orenburg Bank, Primterkombank, Rosdorbank, Center-invest Bank, and Kuban-credit Bank.

Currently, these financial institutions are configuring their systems to handle operations with the new asset. 

As part of the pilot, the regulator is initially launching the most in-demand operations—wallet opening, transfers, payments, and cross-border settlements in cooperation with friendly countries that have their own CBDCs.

The law on the national cryptocurrency came into effect on August 1, 2023. The Central Bank of Russia has set requirements for banks regarding the information security of digital ruble operations and established tariffs for them.

Testing of the CBDC for individuals and legal entities in Russia began on August 15 with the participation of 13 banks. 

Russian citizens will have the opportunity to widely use the new payment method between 2025 and 2027.