First pilot group for digital ruble testing formed
The group comprises 12 banks that wished to join the pilot project and submitted relevant letters to the Bank of Russia.
It is planned to complete the development of the digital ruble platform prototype in December and to start testing in January 2022. The testing will be done in several stages over the year. A road map for the implementation of the digital ruble will be complied as a result.
‘A digital ruble project is aimed to create new payment infrastructure to improve the availability of payments and transfers and to reduce their cost for households and businesses. For the convenience of its use, we need to ensure a seamless migration between the forms of the ruble. This is why it is highly important for us to cooperate with market participants at all stages of the pilot project. To organise this cooperation, we have promptly formed the first pilot group of banks for them to have enough time to technically and technologically prepare their systems and processes for piloting,’ noted Olga Skorobogatova, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia.
At the first stage, it is planned to test the emission of the digital ruble and other operations. Further on, new operations will be tested and new participants will be added to the pilot project.