The Russian Central Bank plans to work on developing a cross-border payment system using a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). According to a Jan. 9 report by local media outlet Kommersant, Russia will move forward with its digital ruble plans in the first quarter of 2023. Russia’s Central Bank will work on two possible cross-border payment systems.
As Cointelegraph reported, in the first model, various countries enter into separate bilateral agreements with Russia to integrate their CBDC systems. The second model is more complex, and it proposes a single hub-like platform for Russia to interact with other countries, sharing common protocols and standards to make payments easier between countries.
Roman Prokhorov, Chairman of the board of Financial Innovations Association (AFI), noted that the implementation of the first model is simpler, but it is less promising for bilateral interactions between countries. Alexey Voylukov, Vice President of the Association of Banks of Russia, said that the implementation of the digital ruble will not change or improve Russia's global political situation, and that trials for the CBDC platform can only be conducted with countries, which are friendly with the Russian government and technologically ready.
In September, reports claimed that Russia was planning to use the digital ruble in its deals with China by 2023.
