The list of banks joining the initiative, which will be regularly updated, also includes prominent names such as Russian Standard Bank, SME Bank, Rosselkhozbank, Expobank, and more. According to the Central Bank, all these credit institutions have already entered into an agreement to become part of the digital ruble platform.
As of now, there are 13 banks, nearly 30 trading and service companies, and approximately 600 citizens participating in the testing operations with real digital rubles. The Bank of Russia is continually expanding participation in the project and is actively inviting new participants from the financial and business sectors.
It was previously reported that since the launch of the digital ruble pilot project in August, the Bank of Russia has already conducted close to 14,000 transactions in 11 cities across the country.
Towards the end of December, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated that by 2024, all Russian citizens will have the capability to make purchases using digital rubles. The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation plan to initially test the use of the digital ruble for budget expenditures.