Russian CCI: Digital Ruble Possesses Key Role – Bits Media

The government-backed stablecoin has a pivotal role: the capability to process transactions without reliance on external cellular communication, stated Timur Aitov, the Chairman of the Financial Market Security Committee within the Council of the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

As per Aitov’s statement, digital ruble exchanges can only occur via Bluetooth and NFC technologies.

“If the digital ruble gains the ability to function offline, every argument that ‘it’s not needed by anyone’ will vanish on its own. The problem is that, per the plans of the Central Bank of Russia, the offline capability is unlikely to be introduced before 2027, and it’s not a priority now,” the expert clarified.

He highlighted that the emergence of the digital ruble is also driven by another consideration, one that has received less attention in the media. Specifically, the launch of digital currencies by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) should be interpreted as a signal of a major shift in national financial structures.

“Current financial systems are predominantly dual-layered, just like Russia’s—retail money is produced by the central banks of each nation, as well as all commercial banks. The introduction of the digital ruble will greatly diminish the authority of commercial banks in this area, which is what they are afraid of,” Aitov emphasized.

According to his estimates, each Russian bank will, on average, need to spend somewhere between 80 and 120 million rubles on the required infrastructure to commence operations with a government-backed stablecoin.

To fulfill all of the Bank of Russia’s prerequisites to ensure the robustness of the payment system, bank investments will double. Many smaller regional banks might struggle to handle these increased expenses, potentially leading to their failure, Aitov concluded.

Previously, Sergey Khromov, Vice President and Head of Key Ecosystem Products at Russia’s T-Bank, made it clear that the government-backed stablecoin would not be employed for the purposes of loan origination or as a value reserve.

Источник: bits.media