What is the digital ruble and how will it affect us

What is a digital ruble and where did it come from?

The digital ruble is a new form of the Russian national currency, which will begin testing in April 2023.

The digital ruble, like the usual one, is issued by the Central Bank. This type of money is backed by the reserves of the Central Bank. It is proposed to store them in an electronic wallet on a platform that is specially created by the department. It will control her. At the same time, each citizen can have no more than one wallet. The legal entity is also entitled to one - already for the entire company.

The digital ruble can be sent to friends, pay for goods and services. Among the promised interesting features are programmable smart contracts. They work on the principle of a bank letter of credit: the money is frozen in the account and transferred to the recipient after any condition is met.

At the Central Bank promisethat technically transactions with a digital ruble will be similar to familiar transactions through

banking applications. For example, to pay for goods, you need to attach your phone to the terminal or read a QR code with it. It will be possible to replenish e-wallets both with a bank card and in cash. And the digital ruble, respectively, can be converted into money in a bank account or in your pocket.

And on a bank card are not digital rubles?

They are similar, but not identical. The Central Bank distinguishes three forms of the ruble:

1. Cash - banknotes and coins.
2. Non-cash - money in accounts and maps.
3. Digital.

And if it is easy to distinguish a metal or paper ruble from any other, then with non-cash and digital everything is somewhat more difficult. For the layman, there is practically no difference. If a person receives a salary to the account and pays everywhere with a card, the money is still virtual for him, he sees it only as a reflection of the amount in the banking application or SMS notifications. Pay by phone through apps or QR codes everyone is used to it too, so there are no special surprises here.

The difference is in the technical part. A non-cash ruble is an account entry created by the bank itself. If something happens to such money, he is responsible for it. The digital ruble is issued by the Central Bank, secured by it and is a unique sequence of numbers.

However, in everyday life, differences can also be seen. The Central Bank promises that it will be possible to pay with digital rubles without access to the Internet. Whereas banking applications require an Internet connection. But there is also a minus: unlike commercial banks, the Central Bank does not promise any bonuses. There won't be any interest on the balance, oh cashback and other pleasant little things, too, not a word.

It turns out that the digital ruble is a cryptocurrency?

Technically, there is something in common between the ruble and the cryptocurrency. For example, they promise to make a digital ruble platform hybrid — using a centralized and decentralized approach. The latter is used for cryptocurrencies. Decentralization in blockchain technologies implies that there is no single place for storing information. The operation of a distributed data registry is supported by all or almost all participants. Copies are constantly synchronized, so if someone falls out of the scheme, no information is lost. The advantage of decentralization is the absence of external control: this is probably why the Central Bank chose a hybrid. There are other technical similarities as well.

But ideologically, the digital ruble is not a cryptocurrency at all. There are several reasons for this:

1. Released and controlled Central Bank. Cryptocurrency does not have a single issuer.
2. The digital ruble is backed by the reserves of the Central Bank. Cryptocurrency, by and large, rests on faith in it.
3. The rate of the digital ruble coincides with the rate of any other ruble - a consequence of the previous reason. And no matter how stormy this course is, it is still more stable and predictable compared to cryptocurrency, because the Central Bank is behind it.

And they also love operations with cryptocurrency, including the fact that they are almost impossible to track. With the digital ruble, everything will be completely different. But more on that later.

And why introduce a digital ruble at all?

There are several reasons why this state. Some voiced The Central Bank, you can generally guess about others.

For example, with the help of the digital ruble, sanctions can be circumvented. In the official version, this is called the creation of "capacity to facilitate cross-border payments", but it is quite clear what is meant by this. exchange digital currency with other states can bypass systems such as SWIFT and in secret from those who, in fact, imposed restrictions.

But there is a more interesting reason, which officially sounds like “control over the spending of budget funds”. The trick of the digital ruble is that each electronic coin will receive its own unique code, by which you can track its entire path through wallets. And thanks to smart contracts, electronic money can be programmed in such a way that it can be spent on some things and not on others. That is, it can really make the process budget-friendly in the future. For example, make sure that money does not end up in the pockets of officials, or make subsidies truly targeted.

But there is a nuance. By numbers it will be possible to track not only money from the budget.

Now, of course, various departments also have methods for monitoring income and expenses. For example, banknotes are marked with serial numbers, and banks work closely with Rosfinmonitoring. But the digital ruble platform will make access to the movement of money through electronic wallets lightning fast. A possible ban from the state on certain spending is also not going anywhere.

Even in the official version, as a bonus to improve security, it sounds that the Central Bank will be able to instantly block suspicious transactions. However, it should be understood that "suspicious" does not necessarily mean fraudulent.

Are there any benefits for people?

The Central Bank wrote whole list reasons why the digital ruble is good. Citizens and businesses, for example, are promised improved customer service conditions, a high level of security funds, cost reduction and access to the wallet through any financial institution that serves client. And these are rather vague promises.

So far, it can be assumed that ordinary citizens may not notice any special changes. For them, everything is likely to be little different from the current ways to pay online. Although if technically the Central Bank manages to make sure that for operations Internet was not required, this will definitely be a bonus, as well as smart contracts.

But a business can really save on transactions if it does not pay commissions for transfers to banks. But while the digital ruble is just an experiment in its infancy, it’s hard to say how it all will actually work.

Okay, what about security?

If we talk about whether it is possible to hack an electronic wallet, a lot depends on the technical features of the platform. However, your personal sense of security will be related to how much you rely on the state. On the one hand, we learn about data leaks from banks and important government sites infrequently. That is, in general, specialists are able to protect information. On the other hand, if a person does not trust the system and wants to keep money under the mattressno one will convince him.

However, bank accounts are usually stolen in another way - with the help of social engineering. These are the same calls from the security service and SMS "Mom, I hit a man." Fraudsters do not even need to hack anything, people transfer money to them themselves. And here, alas, no method of storing finances guarantees their integrity.

Let's say I want to experiment with a digital ruble. What to do?

Now you can start an electronic wallet through the application of the bank, of which you are a client. But everything is not so simple here. First, so far only 15 institutions:

1. Ak Bars Bank.
2. "Alfa Bank".
3. "House. RF".
4. VTB.
5. Gazprombank.
6. Tinkoff Bank.
7. Promsvyazbank.
8. Rosbank.
9. Sberbank.
10. "Sinara" (former "SKB-bank").
11. Bank SOYUZ.
12. TKB Bank.
13. "MTS-Bank".
14. Qiwi Bank.
15. Sovcombank.

Secondly, not every user will be given the opportunity to open an electronic wallet, since the system is in its infancy. But you can periodically check, suddenly you are lucky.

And if I don’t want to get involved with the digital ruble, they won’t force me?

Hard to tell. Implementation of the system is likely to take several years. Initially, the Central Bank counted manage by 2030. But too much is happening now unpredictably. The department may be in a hurry for various reasons. And what will happen after the digital ruble is fully operational is hard to imagine.

The scenario that the authorities have already gone through with card "World". It was introduced gradually, but inevitably for some segments of the population. For example, they began to pay salaries to state employees and pensions only for Mir. Gradually, recipients of benefits, subsidies and other payments from the state were added to those who cannot do without a card. And since all people of these categories make up a significant part of the country's population, gradually "Mir" turned out to be almost everyone.