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The Russian government is reportedly keen on issuing digital ruble benefits payments, but experts think major adoption hurdles may yet hamper Moscow’s CBDC launch.
The report was published by the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The newspaper claimed that the nation’s Central Bank, the Federal Treasury, and the Ministry of Finance were “discussing” making “social payments using the digital ruble.”
The bank has committed to rolling out the CBDC sometime this year, despite pushback from the nation’s commercial banking sector. The ministry is thought to be especially keen to use the CBDC to make welfare payments. The department thinks the move may help reduce benefits fraud and boost efficiency.
This follows reports in Russia that the trio “successfully” tested the digital ruble in “budgetary operations” behind closed doors “at the end of 2024.”
Businesses, meanwhile, will pay lower commission fees with the CBDC transactions than is the case with conventional bank transfers. Regardless, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has stated that “in the future, the digital ruble may have more important functions.”
The Central Bank has claimed that peer-to-peer transfers between individuals will be commission-free.
“We are currently still in the pilot phase. We have 15 banks working with us, including the largest ones in the country. For now, only a small group of their clients are allowed to make transactions with the digital ruble.”
The newspaper quoted the Central Bank’s press service as stating that a general rollout would not take place “before the second half of 2025.” The bank said:
The same roadmap reportedly notes that on the same day, the parties want to also start piloting CBDC “spending on capital construction.”
But the news agency Interfax wrote on February 5 that the government has a “roadmap” for “using the digital ruble in budgetary operations.” This roadmap reportedly mentions August 25. It allegedly claims this is the day the Central Bank and the Federal Treasury “plan to start the experimental use of digital ruble to pay social benefits.”
Veniamin Kaganov, the CEO of the Association for the Development of Financial Literacy, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta that “for the budget,” it was “important that public money is spent strictly on what it was intended for.”
The Central Bank says that the digital ruble uses distributed ledger technology. It also claims that individuals will be free to choose if they wish to receive welfare and other payments in CBDC or cash.
These comments echo Siluanov’s previous sentiments. The Finance Minister has called for the Central Bank to color-code or “mark” certain digital ruble tokens to ensure benefit payments are not “abused.”
He explained: “For example, adults should not buy alcohol and cigarettes for themselves using child benefits. With the digital ruble, this will become a reality.”