Olga Skorobogatova, the first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, announced at an Economic Conference that 13 local banks and some merchants would be conducting the first actual digital ruble transactions on April 1, 2023. This will mark the first consumer pilot for the nation’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).
According to Skorobogatova, the digital ruble initiative will begin on April 1 with individual transactions and payments in businesses engaged in commerce and service provision. However, general customers will not be allowed to participate in the trial’s first phase, which will only involve selected customers from the 13 banks that have passed technical and operational assessments.
Skorobogatova stated:
“I will immediately draw your attention to the fact that the pilot will go on real transactions, real customers, but for a limited number of transactions and for a limited number of clients.”
The Bank of Russia intends to scale the digital ruble further after the initial test phase. This pilot test is in line with the central bank’s schedule for introducing the digital ruble, which was unveiled formally in June 2022. The CBDC trial was pushed from 2024 to an earlier date to seek a replacement for the SWIFT payments system.
Meanwhile, Japan revealed earlier today that its CBDC pilot program would begin in April 2023, with the aim of testing a CBDC ecosystem model and involving private firms. The pilot test will advance research into the technical viability of the digital yen and will only include simulated retail transactions, with no genuine transactions being conducted.
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