The Bank of Russia, together with market participants, began testing the digital ruble platform.
12 banks agreed to test the platform: Ak Bars Bank, Alfa-Bank, DOM.RF, VTB, Gazprombank, Tinkoff Bank, Promsvyazbank, Rosbank, Sberbank, SKB-Bank , Soyuz, TKB Bank.
Three banks from the pilot group have already connected to the platform, two of them have successfully completed the entire cycle of digital ruble transfers between clients using the banks’ mobile applications.
Citizens were able to open digital wallets on the digital ruble platform through the application, exchange non-cash rubles from their accounts for digital ones and transfer digital rubles among themselves.
The rest of the banks will join the testing after finalizing their IT systems.
The difference between the digital ruble and non-cash accounts:
- As reported, it will be possible to pay with the digital ruble not only online, but also offline, in places without the Internet.
- Access to the digital wallet will be provided through the mobile application of any bank that serves the client.
- Transfers in digital rubles will be free for citizens and available in any region of the country.
- Technically, the digital ruble is an electronic code. It is stored in a special separate electronic wallet. Non-cash rubles are kept in a bank account.
It should be noted that the prototype of the digital ruble platform was ready in December 2021.
Source: https://rb.ru/news/digital-ruble-start/
