“The digital ruble is an innovative product of federal scale. The participants of the pilot group, which since the first days of its existence includes Ingosstrakh Bank, in mid-August will start piloting digital currency on real clients. Due to the scale and importance of the project, it will be conducted point by point, on a limited number (several dozen) of employees and counterparties of the bank,” the banker said.
Both retail and corporate clients will participate in the pilot program. The test should include transactions to pay for goods and services, such as the purchase of insurance policies by bank customers.
Russia recently passed a law to introduce the digital ruble into the banking system. The CBR, which is assigned the status of CBDC platform operator, now has the right to refuse any commercial bank to conduct a transaction. Several large banks have recently announced that they are ready to test real transactions with CBDC;
Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma’s Financial Markets Committee, said that minors will not be able to take possession of their parents’ digital rubles and buy whatever they want. Central Bank head Elvira Nabiullina said that widespread use of the state digital currency will be possible from the beginning of 2025.