From penny to bit: State Duma approves digital ruble

The State Duma in the second and third readings approved bill , which provides the legal basis for the introduction of the digital ruble. The entry into force of the key provisions of this law is scheduled for August 1, 2023. About it informs Kommersant, referring to an official document.

Initiated by a group of deputies led by Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the financial market committee, the bill establishes that the Central Bank of Russia will be the operator of the digital ruble platform.

The legislation obliges the Central Bank to keep digital rubles, manage the opening of digital wallets and perform other functions of the regulator. The law also defines concepts such as “digital ruble platform”, “digital ruble platform rules”, “digital ruble platform participant”, “digital ruble platform user”, and “digital account”.

The conditions for transactions on the digital ruble platform will be set by the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Russia. Also, the Central Bank will set tariffs for operations with the digital ruble and the terms during which Russian banks are required to provide customers with the opportunity to work with the new currency. For ordinary citizens, transactions with the digital ruble will be free, while for businesses they will cost 0.3% of the transaction amount.

The law emphasizes that banking secrecy requirements also apply to digital ruble transactions and accounts. At the same time, it will not be possible to open a deposit in digital rubles or receive a loan in digital currency – they are supposed to be used only for making payments and settlements. In addition, no interest is charged on digital wallet account balances.

Earlier, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, stated that the Central Bank had set a maximum amount of 300,000 rubles per month for replenishing a digital wallet. These funds, as well as any other account balances, for example, if a person received digital rubles from another person, can be transferred to themselves or to another user without charging interest.

It is expected that the digital ruble will come into use among Russian citizens in the period from 2025 to 2027.