Russian Central Bank to conduct digital ruble transactions in 2023

Russia’s Central Bank will carry out real transactions using its planned digital ruble in 2023 and expects to also use the digital currency in international settlements, Governor Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday, Report informs, citing Reuters.

"Among the priority projects is the digital ruble. We quickly created a prototype of the digital ruble, now we are testing it with banks, next year we will gradually carry out pilot calculations, as they say, in the real economy with the digital ruble. The digital ruble should make settlements cheaper … and we, of course, expect that it will also be used in international settlements,” she said, addressing the State Duma.

Nabiullina also noted that it is necessary to bring the topic of digital financial assets to a working state. “We need to see, maybe we are too tight here and we need to ease these projects on digital financial assets,” she added.

Russia has been developing its digital ruble and is planning to pilot-test it this year.