Russia Set to Launch Digital Ruble Currency with New Legislation

• Russian legislators, led by Anatoly Aksakov, have proposed draft legislation to create a central bank-backed digital Ruble currency.
• The proposed law outlines the necessary changes to establish the conditions for introducing the digital Ruble and gives the Bank of Russia sole control of the CBDC platform.
• The draft legislation has been amended to recognize the digital Ruble as the official currency of the Russian Federation and to classify other CBDCs as international currency.

The Bank of Russia is taking steps to create a new digital currency, the digital Ruble, and a group of Russian legislators, headed by Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Financial Market Committee, have presented draft legislation to facilitate the introduction of the new currency. The proposed legislation seeks to amend numerous laws to create a payment system that would allow Russian individuals, businesses, and the government to conduct rapid, easy, and economical monetary transactions.

The proposed draft legislation outlines the necessary changes to establish the conditions for introducing the central bank-backed currency. The law has been amended to give the Bank of Russia sole control over the CBDC platform, as well as to recognize the virtual currency as the official currency of the Russian Federation and to classify central bank digital currencies created by other nations as International currency. Additionally, the Federal legislation „On Personal Data“ has been amended to let the central bank of Russia process personal data without requesting permission and without informing the Russian agency in charge of preserving individual data rights beforehand.

The introduction of the digital Ruble is expected to boost financial accessibility and effectiveness for everyone as it would enable users to make quick and secure payments with the digital currency. The bill also seeks to create a wallet to store the digital Ruble, which would make it easier for users to store, send, and receive the currency.

The proposed laws are currently under review and are expected to be passed by January 1, 2023. Once the laws are passed, the Bank of Russia will begin the process of issuing the digital Ruble, which will represent a major shift in the Russian financial system.