In a flash: how the introduction of the digital ruble affects the economy
According to a SuperJob study, 75% of Russians are distrustful of salaries in digital rubles, while 8% are ready to receive full or partial income in this format. What are the advantages of the digital ruble and how its spread will affect the economy — in the Izvestia article.
Prospects for implementation
The digital ruble was created primarily as a means for payments and transfers, the press service of the Central Bank told Izvestia.
"Its main advantage is the absence of fees for citizens and low tariffs for companies. In what situations to use this means of payment, both people and businesses will decide on their own," the regulator noted.
In Russia, the digital ruble project has been in pilot use since August 2023, when the legislative framework for the project was created, Meri Valishvili, Associate Professor of the Department of State and Municipal Finance at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, reminded Izvestia. The launch of the widespread introduction of digital currency has been postponed until September 1, 2026, as banks must prepare the appropriate technical capability for their customers to conduct operations with digital currency.
— Digital currency will definitely benefit in budget calculations, since each digital ruble has a unique code that can be tracked and recorded, for example, misuse. Control over budget expenditures at all levels will become effective. Consequently, the effect will be positive for the Russian economy as a whole," she believes.
The advantages of the digital ruble can be confidently discussed both for the economy as a whole and for the national financial system, Alexander Pushko, head of the HSE Head of Innovative Business program, told Izvestia. For citizens, the introduction of the digital ruble is unlikely to result in a qualitative leap in the provision and use of financial services, the range of which is quite extensive in Russia.
— Such qualities of the digital ruble as the speed of transactions, their transparency, as well as the "coloring" effect, make it a very effective tool in the public finance sector, as well as in managing the cash flows of large enterprises. Thus, due to the speed of transactions, the turnover of financial resources is growing," he noted.
According to the Bank for International Settlements, the digital currency of central banks, and in the case of Russia, the digital ruble, will be used to tokenize assets and use a single platform based on blockchain technology for settlements, creating conditions for the mass adoption of smart contracts, the expert noted. Ultimately, this will reduce the level of calculated risks and have a positive impact on the country's economic growth.
Programmable payments
The digital ruble is an exclusively settlement payment instrument, because cashback and interest will not be accrued on it as on ordinary non—cash rubles, Sergey Grishunin, managing director of the NRA rating service, told Izvestia. Since the digital ruble is not of interest as an accumulation tool, commercial banks will not disappear, despite the forecasts of some analysts.
— The public may be interested in smart contracts, with which it will be possible to make either programmable payments or payments with restrictions. A typical example of programmable payments is the use of digital rubles on time to pay utility bills, loans, mortgages and other payments, it will be enough to set up a smart contract and it will be executed on time and on time," he said.
Another advantage of the digital ruble, he said, is its decoupling from specific banks, as it will be directly deposited in an account with the Bank of Russia.
Non-sanctioning regime
One of the main tasks of the digital ruble will be to solve problems with cross-border payments in the face of sanctions, Sofia Glavina, associate professor at the Faculty of Economics at the RUDN University, told Izvestia. Most countries are at the pilot testing stage or early scaling stage. The leader in terms of the number of users and the volume of transactions is China, where millions of users of the digital currency have already been registered.
— In this context, the digital ruble is aimed at supporting monetary independence and eliminating the risks of blocking financial channels, as well as optimizing cross-border payments and reducing their cost. Moreover, there are already active cross-border initiatives such as the BRICS Bridge. A number of countries, such as China and the UAE, are already conducting real transactions in digital currency. MBridge is an international project involving China, Thailand, the UAE and Hong Kong," she said.
As part of the experiment, she said, cross-border transfers are being conducted between several jurisdictions using digital currencies. However, the issue of regulating such a system and instruments for creating an exchange rate remains open.
— Most economists see the main advantage of the digital ruble in the possibilities of its use in settlements in foreign trade with friendly countries, — said Sergey Grishunin. — There are problems here. It is necessary that the second party be ready to accept digital rubles, but work in this direction is underway. Here, along with smart contracts, the advantage of the digital ruble lies in transfers outside the "unfriendly" infrastructure, which will significantly diversify settlements under sanctions and reduce transaction costs.
Secure payments
There is reason to believe that some recipients of state benefits (in particular, pensions, scholarships, child benefits, and unemployment benefits) will see the digital ruble as a tool for secure settlements, since they will take place under the control of the Central Bank, an expert from the Popular Front told Izvestia. Analytics", project manager of the NF "For Borrowers' Rights" Evgeniya Lazareva. This can become another tool to protect against fraudsters, it will allow you to track transfers — the system is transparent, and it will be much easier to return the money transferred to the villains.
— In our opinion, a quick transition from the numbers on the account to the cryptocurrency on the electronic wallet is hardly possible. The position of the regulator and the state as a whole is unambiguous on this issue — cryptocurrencies are too unpredictable and opaque, there is no issuer, and crypto exchanges, exchangers, and settlements within Russia are not legalized under sanctions. No one in our country has any illusions about the imminent lifting of sanctions, therefore, an early transition from the digital national currency to crypto money is unlikely," the expert believes.
At the same time, the introduction of the digital ruble can become an incentive for increasing competition and the development and implementation of innovations in the financial sector, Vladimir Eremkin, senior researcher at the IPEI Structural Research Laboratory of the Presidential Academy, added in an interview with Izvestia. In the event of a large-scale spread of the digital ruble and a significant increase in its share in payments, banks and fintech companies will have incentives to improve the convenience of payments. Eventually, it will be possible to use the digital ruble without the Internet, which will improve the availability of financial services even in remote regions of the country and increase financial inclusion.
The Ministry of Energy forwarded Izvestia's request to the Ministry of Finance, but it did not respond at the time of publication.
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