Back in December, the head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina announced the regulator’s intention to start testing the crypto-ruble in 2021. The Russian authorities want to provide an alternative to citizens investing in digital currencies, for example, in bitcoin.
In parallel, the country’s leadership has banned the use of cryptocurrency as a payment instrument. As conceived by the Central Bank, instead of bitcoin and any other decentralized cryptocurrency, Russians will be able to use the digital version of the ruble.
However, already this week it became known that the Central Bank decided to postpone the testing of the token. According to the deputy chairman of the Central Bank Alexei Zabotkin, the regulator may start testing the crypto-ruble in 2022.
By the end of this year, the Bank of Russia expects to complete the development of a prototype platform for operations with the token, Zabotkin emphasized during a speech at an online event organized by the Russian School of Economics.
The official said:
Next year we will already launch testing rounds.
The tests may take two years. However, the Central Bank can, following the example of China, speed up this process, Zabotkin added. He also noted that Bitcoin is a store of value, not a currency.
Until the state develops a mechanism under which a citizen can pay taxes in BTC, this instrument will not be a currency in its classical sense.
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