The Bank of Russia has postponed the mass implementation of the digital ruble indefinitely. The head of the regulator, Elvira Nabiullina, announced that the new date will be determined after the pilot phase and consultations with banks are completed.
15 banks and about 30 companies are participating in the pilot project. The regulator received requests to postpone the timeline due to the need to refine the system, especially in terms of supporting smart contracts.
Zulfia Kakhrumanova, Deputy Chairperson of the Bank of Russia, explained that banks still have unresolved issues with technological integration and security. Initially, it was planned that systemically important banks would launch digital ruble operations by July 1, 2025.
Olga Goncharova, head of the Expert Center for Digital Financial Assets and Digital Currencies at the Association of Russian Banks, notes that the decision is related to the need to refine functionality, notably programmability. "The Bank for International Settlements has repeatedly spoken out against programmable money, as it threatens financial stability," the expert emphasizes.
The high development cost and the need to ensure information security are other factors slowing down implementation. "Banks have to invest significant resources into the pilot project," Goncharova adds.
Most central banks are already shifting their focus from retail CBDCs to wholesale ones—tools for settlements between financial organizations that can effectively coexist with existing payment systems.
Taisia Romanova, a crypto expert, believes the delay is related to the absence of an urgent need for this tool: "There are no critical reasons to launch the digital ruble now, and its implementation will create new challenges."
In Romanova's opinion, the key difficulty is the impact of the digital ruble on the liquidity of banks, especially smaller ones. The Bank of Russia planned to offset possible risks with subsidies, but the volume of tasks proved too large.
The postponement reflects the complex nature of the task and the need for a thorough elaboration of all aspects of this instrument.