Central Bank of Russia has piloted Russian CBDC testing

The Central Bank of Russia has piloted a testing program in the Tatarstan region to test smart contracts for the digital ruble.

The Central Bank of Russia has approached the Tatarstan region with a proposal to help pilot the digital ruble, with a specific focus on testing smart contracts, as originally reported by Business Gazeta. Specifically, the goal is to experiment with the conditional spending of funds earmarked for specific purposes, which will be done through the bank’s testing platform.

The Ministry of Finance of Tatarstan has agreed to the CBR’s proposal and has already established a working group that will oversee the testing of digital ruble transactions in the region.

After testing, Tatarstan’s Finance Ministry and the CBR will define requirements for the targeted use of hypothetical budget subsidies. These requirements will then be formalized into a smart contract. The experiment is slated to conclude in the third quarter of 2025.

While the CBR had initially planned a broader rollout of the digital ruble starting July 1 2025, these plans have been postponed, as announced by CBR head Elvira Nabiullina. A new launch date will be announced later.

According to Nabiullina, the large-scale rollout will only take place after thorough testing and consultations with banks about the most economically viable model for clients. However, the pilot program has been progressing successfully so far.

To put this development into context, the law about the launch of the digital rubble in Russia took effect in August 2023, with the first phase of testing starting on August 15. However, the Central Bank of Russia delayed its national rollout, sparking concerns that the initiative might be scrapped altogether.

The launch of the digital ruble by the Central Bank of Russia is part of a growing trend where national banks are exploring and testing Central Bank Digital Currencies. In Sep. 2024, Reuters reported that 134 countries were exploring launching national CBDCs.

Several countries have already launched testing of their CBDCs, including China, Korea, Papua New Guinea, United Kingdom, to name a few. The European Central Bank is also running its multi-year testing of digital euro. Furthermore, the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Nigeria have already launched their CBDCs, becoming pioneers in digitizing national fiat currencies.