Last week we reported that Russia had progressed legislation to mandate the launch date for the digital ruble as 1 July 2025. That’s despite significant pushback from some banks and retailers who want more time. Today the online edition of Pravda reported that a Sberbank representative called for a delay because the central bank digital currency (CBDC) platform is still being developed. The online version of Pravda is apparently privately owned and not associated with the Communist party print paper.
However, the Pravda article also notes that some other banks will be ready for the 1 July launch.
There’s a good reason for that. The CBDC tests started for a dozen or so banks in late 2023. Some of those banks probably will be ready. However, Sber was not amongst the banks included in that group. It only joined the trial in December 2024, leaving it just over six months to prepare while the platform is still evolving.
Why was Sber in the second digital ruble batch?
The biggest question is why Sber was not included in the first batch of banks, given its market share of deposits is around 45% of the whole of Russia? One can only speculate about potential reasons. One might be a desire to prevent Sber dominating the testing and design – to treat banks more equally.
An alternative is that there was a deliberate attempt to make Sber look bad by not being ready. But that second one doesn’t make sense for two reasons.
Firstly, Sber won’t look bad because it’s public knowledge they’ve only just joined the trials. Secondly, if Sber is not ready, that’s not good for the CBDC launch because a large proportion of the Russian population won’t be able to access the digital ruble.
However, that might be the point. If Sber is not ready, it will allow for a more low key digital ruble launch that is easier to control.
