The Digital Ruble, which is Russia’s central bank digital currency project, has already taken a step quite close to reality. On the 11th of July, the lower chamber of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, which is the State Duma, passed the bill in its third reading. It now implies that the legislation will be moving to the upper chamber of the assembly, which is the Federation Council, after which it will go to the president’s desk if it gets passed.
This bill, which was previously amended at the end of June, will be setting the legal definition of participants, platform, and users, along with the general guidelines for the ecosystem of CBDC. Under the current framework, the Bank of Russia, which is the central bank of Russia, will end up as the principal operator of the infrastructure of this digital currency. It will also end up bearing the responsibility for all of the stored assets.
Digital Ruble About To Be Introduced In The State Duma
Interestingly, the main aim of the CBDC, according to the Bank of Russia, is to bring about a transfer or payment method which will utilize the Digital Ruble. Hence, the users will not be able to open up savings accounts. The BoR has also emphasized that the transfers and payments would end up being free for individual customers, and cost around 0.3% of the payment amount set aside for corporate clients.
The Digital Ruble bill was initially introduced to the State Duma in December 2022 and ended up passing through its initial reading in March 2023. In February, a leading subsidiary of Gazprombank, which is a government-owned gas company, went ahead and warned the government against the possible risks for banks when it comes to the fast transition to digital money. The Russian branch also estimated the potential losses of traditional banks from the CBDC.
