Russia has tested the digital ruble platform — a new form of the national currency Russians will be able to use alongside cash and non-cash rubles. The first digital ruble operations have been carried out by clients of two banks involved in testing the new instrument, VTB and PSB.
The project participants have performed first digital ruble transfers between individuals using the test version of the Central Bank’s digital ruble platform.
The two banks’ clients created digital wallets on the platform, exchanged non-cash rubles for digital ones, and carried out several transactions using test versions of the relevant mobile apps. The operations involved money transfers between Russian citizens.
The next stage of testing is scheduled for the next fall. The participants will use digital rubles to pay for goods and services, as well as make payments to government services.
As the regulator said in a statement, 12 banks including Alfa-Bank, Rosbank, Sberbank, SKB-Bank and others volunteered to take part in the testing once the digital ruble platform prototype was completed in December last year.
For reference: each digital ruble will have a unique identifier; the Bank of Russia will be responsible for the digital rubles’ storage and accounting. Transactions involving a digital ruble may be made both online and offline, when a network connection is unavailable.