The Bank of Russia plans to release an initial model of the digital ruble platform by the remainder of the current year and commence a testing phase of it in 2022. This was announced at an online event of the Russian School of Economics by Alexei Zabotkin, the deputy of the head of the Russian Central Bank, as reported by RIA Novosti.
In the words of Zabotkin, this prototype will be “some kind of technical platform that can be bent in the hands, but within which it will not be yet possible to make any feasible transactions.”
Examination rounds are planned for next year “on the foundation of the prototype, considering its potential completion”, he noted.
At the end of 2020, the head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina stated that testing the digital ruble could start in 2021. She also said that the appearance of the digital ruble would not affect loan rates, and there are no plans to issue deposits or loans in the form of digital rubles.
Not long ago it became clear that Russian banks back the idea of the introduction of the digital ruble.
