The Bank of Russia, the country's central bank, has postponed the launch of the pilot of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), also known as the digital ruble.
The testing was initially expected to launch on April 1.
The delay is because only the first reading of the related legislation has been completed in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia.
- The legislation is expected to be put into effect by May.
- The number of participating private banks also decreased from 15 to 13.
- The test participants will include some bank employees and select customers, though the general public will not be able to participate in the first stage.
- One of the largest insurance companies in Russia, Ingosstrakh, will also participate in the digital ruble pilot.
- The pilot will test the CBDC with real operations and consumers.
- After the first stage, the central bank will work on putting the CBDC into use at a grander scale.
Russia's CBDC pilot was originally scheduled for 2024.
- The test launch was moved to an earlier date, following the country's efforts to find an alternative to the SWIFT payments system due to the Western countries' sanctions.
