Russia Will Use CBDC Pay Benefits & Evade Sanctions, Experts Claim
Russian experts say they think that the government will use the digital ruble to pay state benefits – and think the CBDC could be used to evade sanctions.
With just days to go until Russia pilots the coin, experts have been examining the scant details that have thus far been forthcoming prior to August 15.
While the initial pilot tests will revolve around micropayments, wallet top-up functionality, and direct debiting features, experts think the Central Bank has much grander plans for the coin.
Per the media outlet RIA Novosti (via Progoroduhta), Pavel Kashitsyn, an executive at Expert RA, Russia’s oldest credit rating agency, it will take around three years before most citizens are able to perform a significant amount of their financial activities with the CBDC.
But others were more optimistic.
Yegor Krivosheya, the head of the blockchain and fintech firm Skolkovo said he was “confident” that the digital ruble would be used to make government payments.
The country’s Central Bank will launch its pilot on August 15, with 600 citizens set to become the first people in the country to use the CBDC.
The bank will partner with retailers in 11 cities nationwide, with the capital Moscow’s iconic metro system also joining trials.
Some 30 retailers and 13 banks are taking part in the first trials.
But a second group of about 16 banks, including some regional banks, is set to join a “second phase” in the coming months.
Krivosheya added that government organs were likely to use the coin to pay contractors in tender agreements.
He said state organizations would seek to use the coin to pay citizens’ benefits, including state pensions.
In the business world, experts suggested, the CBDC could be “useful in the project financing market,” where
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