The Russian Central Bank is set to expand its digital ruble pilot program in September, significantly increasing the reach of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). According to Pravda, the new phase of the pilot will involve offering the digital ruble to real clients with real money starting from September 1.
The CBDC pilot was initially launched over a year ago, with 600 selected individuals in 11 Russian cities participating. Since then, there has been limited expansion, with the integration of the Moscow Metro and a small group of large banks. The Central Bank had previously announced plans to expand the pilot network to include a second group of banks, but did not provide a specific timeframe for this expansion.
However, First Deputy Governor Olga Skorobogatova stated that the Central Bank has received a significant number of applications and requests from citizens and businesses across the country to use the digital ruble. She emphasized the real demand for the project to be expanded to all banks and a larger number of participants. Skorobogatova expressed her belief that the digital ruble project will develop actively in the second half of 2024 and the following year.
The Central Bank clarified that the pilot program would be expanded to include 9,000 individuals and 1,200 legal entities later this year. It also revealed that its commercial banking partners have facilitated approximately 19,000 peer-to-peer CBDC transactions so far. Additionally, pilot users have made around 6,000 payments with the digital ruble and conducted 3,500 smart contract transactions.
It is worth noting that the Central Bank remains committed to banning crypto exchanges in Russia as part of its efforts to prevent tokens from entering the national economy.