According to the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Olga Skorobogatova, at the first stage of testing, retail clients will not get access to the digital ruble.. First, the system will be tested at the institutional level, as well as among selected bank customers.. All 13 banks have already passed both technical and operational tests. After that, the regulator will decide on the system scaling process.
“We plan to launch a pilot stage on April 1 with transactions between individuals and payments in trade and service enterprises at the beginning, at this stage. I’ll immediately draw your attention to the fact that the pilot will go on real transactions, real clients, but for a limited number of transactions and for a limited number of clients with 13 banks that have already technically confirmed their readiness,” Olga Skorobogatova said.
Recall that the Bank of Russia will be the only operator of the digital ruble. Thus, the Russian state digital currency will not be decentralized.