The digital ruble may be introduced in Russia in three to seven years, but Russia will not become the world leader in this matter, Dmitry Peskov, who is the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation regarding digital and technological development, stated in an interview with RIA Novosti.
Peskov highlighted that, for Russia to take the leading position in that regard, “it was necessary to start working on this four years ago”.
“But why? The risk from a financial point of view is so great that I think the “being quick second” strategy is more adequate than craving to be the first at all costs. Let’s see what the leader will do, what barriers will he face,” Peskov said.
Among the advantages of the digital ruble, the special representative of the president named the opportunity to increase the transparency of payments. It can be a useful tool to fight true poverty, he said.
“To see who really needs help, you need to understand the transactions of the household, otherwise it will turn out that this household consumes 200 thousand rubles a month, but still applies to receive a subsidy for poverty. And for this we could use the digital ruble”, Peskov explained.
The Bank of Russia published a report on a possible digital ruble issue in October. It was supported by several Russian commercial banks, including such located in Crimea – the internationally sanctioned peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine back in 2014.
As it became known later, if the project for the state-issued virtual currency is approved, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation will conduct an experiment on its use by a limited circle of users.
