Last week, the head of the Bank of Russia said that the central bank has allowed companies to test asset-backed stablecoins in a regulatory sandbox, according to an Interfax report.
Elvira Nabiullina, the Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, had previously said the country was against any form of private currency as it may threaten financial sovereignty. The country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs had also announced plans to seize digital currencies in case of criminal activity.
In her statement to Interfax, Nabiullina said the regulatory sandbox was accessible to companies wanting to issue tokens backed by real assets. Consistent with previous reports, she clarified that ” we do not assume that they will function as a means of payment and become money surrogate. “
Despite its cautious stance, the Russian central bank is exploring the possibility of issuing its own digital currency. The central bank is currently studying developments in China and Sweden.
“First of all, we need to understand what will be the advantages for our citizens, for businesses, for example, compared with the option when we develop fast payment systems, expand their application not only for settlements between individuals but also between legal entities,” Nabiullina told Interfax.
Several countries are in the process of exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Last month, the Bank of Lithuania unveiled a digital collectible as a controlled CBDC experiment.
Another Euro area member, France, is testing a CBDC targeted at institutions. The European Central Bank itself is exploring a digital Euro for retail and wholesale.
Meanwhile, China seems to be quite advanced towards issuing a digital yuan. While the People’s Bank of China has not divulged exact details, comments from the CBDC head indicate that the digital yuan will soon start testing.
