Russia advances digital ruble implementation, requiring acceptance of Central Bank Digital Currency
The Bank of Russia has announced that a mass rollout of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital ruble, will take place in July 2025. This announcement was made by Elvira Nabiullina, the Governor of the Bank of Russia.
Initially, the digital ruble pilot program began with 22 banks, including Russia's largest bank, Sber. However, as of now, 20 banks are still in the process of onboarding to the pilot. Notably, Sber, despite being expected to join the second group, is not yet part of the pilot.
The digital ruble pilot program has seen significant expansion since its inception. The participant limit has increased from 600 to 9,000, and the number of merchants accepting the digital ruble has grown from the initial 22. The number of banks participating in the pilot has also increased from the initial 22.
By July 2025, all major banks in Russia will be obligated to support the digital ruble. This means they will have to open and top up digital ruble accounts, make transfers, and accept digital rubles.
It is important to note that as of now, there is no publicly available information specifying the 20 banks that were to be included in the digital ruble pilot program in September 2024 but had not yet joined.
In September, Russia's central bank relaxed some restrictions for the digital ruble pilot. The participant limit was increased from 600 to 9,000, and the number of merchants was increased from 22 to 1,200.
The second wave of 20 banks are currently in the process of onboarding to the digital ruble pilot. As the rollout date approaches, it will be interesting to see how the adoption of the digital ruble progresses in Russia.
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