According to the chairman of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina, a responsible state should not stimulate the proliferation of private digital assets
The head of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina, during a speech in the State Duma, said that the regulator has an extremely negative attitude towards private cryptocurrencies claiming to be money. According to Nabiullina, the problem is that digital currencies are anonymous and no one is responsible for them.
“In our opinion, a responsible state should not stimulate their distribution,” said the head of the Central Bank.
At the same time, Nabiullina added that people need to be given an alternative to private cryptocurrencies, which, in particular, can become the digital ruble.
“People need to be given an alternative, and we do this with the help of our projects. I have already spoken about the digital ruble – in our opinion, this should develop, "said the head of the Central Bank.
Nabiullina has repeatedly criticized cryptocurrencies, calling them a "monetary surrogate", and also recommended that Russians not invest in digital assets.
On November 15, the Bank of Russia announced the conditions for the introduction of the digital ruble into the country's economy. According to the chairman of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina, testing a prototype of the national digital currency may take more than a year.
In early November, it became known that the Bank of Russia would release a prototype of the digital ruble in early 2022. Over the next year, the regulator will test the digital ruble and after that will make the final decision on the issue of the national digital currency. In January 2022, the State Duma plans to start developing amendments to the legislation necessary to introduce the digital ruble into the country's economy.
The digital ruble is an additional form of the Russian national currency to be issued by the Bank of Russia. It combines the properties of cash and non-cash rubles. Like non-cash money, the digital ruble makes remote payments and online settlements possible. On the other hand, like cash, it can be used offline – in the absence of Internet access.