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The Deputy Chairman of the State Duma, Alexander Babakov, suggested that Russia, China and India should trade using a common digital currency, which could be a digital ruble, rupee or yuan. "India, Russia, and China are the countries that now create a multipolar world that is backed by the majority of countries. Its creation should be based on establishing new financial ties based on a system that does not safeguard today's dollar and euro, but rather creates a new currency capable of serving our goals," he said. https://tass.com/economy/1596017

Russia reportedly plans to have a digital ruble capable of making international payments ready by next year and also wants to expand the number of countries that accept its Visa- and Mastercard-style banking cards that are administrated by the central bank. Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina also said Russia aims to extend the number of countries that accept the central bank's MIR banking cards, an alternative to Visa and MasterCard which have joined other Western firms and suspended operations in Russia.

Crypto exchange Binance has reportedly lifted its service restrictions for Russian users that were implemented last year following the start of Russia's Ukraine invasion. Binance users in Russia can now deposit Russian rubles and other currencies using bank cards issued in Russia. Additionally, the exchange removed the limits on balances of more than EUR 10,000 on Russia-linked accounts. https://forklog.com/news/binance-prokommentirovala-blokirovku-kriptokart-prozhivayushhim-v-es-rossiyanam

Iran and Russia are reportedly looking to launch a new gold-backed stablecoin to be used for cross-border transactions in the place of the US dollar, the Iranian rial and the Russian ruble in the Persian Gulf region. The cryptocurrency would also specifically intended as a payment method in the Astrakhan area - an economic zone whose design helped Russia begin to receive cargo shipments from Iran.

The Bank of Russia will reportedly launch a digital ruble CBDC pilot on April 1, 2023. It will involve 13 local banks and several merchants, with transactions involving person-to-person transfers and payments to merchants. In the first phase the banks will enter the pilot with chosen customers, after which Bank of Russia will determine how to scale the pilot further. The testing of foreign exchange capabilities and the opening of wallets to non-residents may occur from 2024. https://tass.ru/ekonomika/17074007

The Bank of Russia reportedly plans to launch a direct support line for digital ruble end users. They published a request for proposals stating that it wants "to assess the cost of performing work to create a multi-channel digital complex for recording telephone conversations, organizing the reception of calls, recording them, using and storing records as part of the launch of the first line of customer support for the Bank Russia. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6466071

The Russian State Duma will consider a draft law on February 27, 2024, that will legalize the use of tokenized assets for cross border payments. Russia already has a legal framework for tokenized financial assets, which it refers to as digital financial assets (DFA). These regulated assets include tokenized commodities, trade finance and other structured products. However, DFAs were explicitly not allowed to be used for payments. However, Russia is now looking for alternative ways to settle cross border transactions, in light of sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Bank of Russia will review a proposal to create a gold-backed cryptocurrency, which could be used for mutual settlements with other countries, Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said on May 22. More: http://tass.com/economy/1059727"

Bank of Russia is reportedly planning to charge fees for all central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions. However, the fees will be lower than those within Russia's Faster Payments System (FPS), a service that lets individuals make instant interbank transfers. The FPS system allows users to transfer up to 100,000 rubles ($1,360) with zero commissions. For transfers beyond this amount, the system charges a 0.5% fee of the transfer amount, but no more than 1,500 rubles ($20) per one transfer.

The Bank of Russia (BoR) revealed the logo for its digital ruble central bank digital currency (CBDC), and published the transaction fees. Person-to-person (P2P) transactions will be free of charge. However, starting from 2025, business-to-business (B2B) transactions will cost 15 rubles ($0.16) each, while person-to-business (P2B) transactions will be charged 0.3% of the total transaction sum up to a maximum of 1,500 rubles ($15.65). The P2B fee drops to 0.2% up to a maximum of 10 rubles ($10) when paying for housing and public services. https://cbr.ru/fintech/dr/doc_dr/tarif/dr_t-1/

President Vladimir Putin signed the digital ruble bill into law on July 24, 2023.  It will take effect on August 1, 2023, with all but one rule ready to be enforced. Article number three - which includes amendments to several Russian federal laws, including those related to bankruptcy and inheritance - is expected to take effect from August 2024. The new legislation empowers the Russian central bank to launch the first CBDC pilot in August. According to Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina, Russians will not be forced to use the digital ruble. http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/document/0001202307240009?index=1

Russia's parliament reportedly published a draft law as part of an experimental regime to support the use of digital assets for cross border payments to help evade sanctions, and reduce the FX risk associated with settling dollar and euro transactions in other currencies. Russia already has a legal framework for tokenized assets for domestic usage, but additional legislation is needed to allow their use for cross border settlements.

After launching a digital rouble early next year, Russia plans to use the currency in mutual settlements with China as it seeks to reduce Washington's global financial hegemony, according to Anatoly Aksakov, head of the financial committee in Russia's lower house of parliament.

"The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is expanding its trails for the digital ruble it is developing. The CBR is now also exploring more use cases for the central bank digital currency (CBDC), including for use in settlement of real estate deals."

The digital ruble launch will begin no earlier than 2025, after the completion of the proof-of-concept (POC) that started on August 15, 2023. The first group of participants consists of 600 Bank of Russia employees and 30 businesses in eleven cities. In 2024 the number of participants will expand, but will still remain limited. The POC will continue at least until the end of 2024 and, if necessary, will be extended. The Bank of Russia also noted that, although there are no transaction fees to users, merchants pay a 0.3% commission fee for accepting payments in digital rubles.

The Central Bank of Russia is analyzing the impact of issuing a central bank digital currency in a paper published on April 18. The intention is to better understand possible use cases for CBDCs.

Russian government-owned news agency TASS has reported that Russia will not legalize Libra.

Chinese importers in Russia are buying up to $30 million a day of tether from Moscow's OTC trading desks. They use the cryptocurrency to send large sums back to their home country, which has strict capital controls. Previously the merchants used bitcoin for this, but when the market crashed in 2018 they switched to tether. Despite longstanding questions about USDT's collateral, in this market "nobody actually cares if tether is backed or not," says one Moscow trader.

The Bank of Russia will reportedly complete what sounds like a digital ruble proof of concept by the end of 2021. According to the reports, deputy governor Alexey Zabotkin said that the prototype will not support "real transactions" but would rather serve as a starting point to build the ecosystem on. Based on this prototype, including refinement, the central bank will start rolling out trial rounds in 2022.

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) released a comprehensive strategy for the next three years of payments development in the country. Prominent among the CBR's strategy is an emphasis on its digital ruble. The CBR is planning for open APIs that will allow the digital ruble to integrate with any other private payment platform, and for the platform to offer offline functionality. It expects an initial prototype to be ready by end-2021, to be followed by initial pilots in 2022, and an implementaion roadmap by end-2022. https://www.cbr.ru/press/event/?id=9761