Monat: Dezember 2020

The Russian central bank wants to use the digital ruble to help companies by making financial intermediaries superfluous.

Russia’s digital ruble is said to cut business costs, but it could also reduce profits for commercial banks, according to Elvira Nabiullina, chairwoman of the Bank of Russia

At a meeting of Opora Russia, a non-governmental organization of small and medium-sized enterprises, on December 3, Nabiullina said that a digital ruble could reduce the profits of commercial banks through commissions and transaction fees.

She also stated that central bank digital currency was a natural evolution in streamlining financial services:

„This is a natural step in the evolution of the financial system: the financial intermediaries should weigh on the economy and make money with new products and services instead of profiting from their monopoly and the lack of alternatives. We believe that small and medium-sized enterprises definitely should should benefit from it. “

She also mentioned a number of advantages of a digital ruble. Including, for example, safer and faster payments. „We are now thinking about several models in which the digital ruble can exist, in which the interaction of customers, central bank and commercial banks is organized in different ways, but these advantages remain in all models. These are fast, reliable and secure payments „as she explained.

In October 2020, Nabiullina claimed that a digital ruble could not have the same level of anonymity as cash. The Bank of Russia wants to strengthen user privacy, however. Shortly before, Russia’s central bank had officially published its CBDC plans on October 13th . According to the bank, a digital ruble could soon be used as an additional form of money alongside cash.

European central bankers prgnostizieren: Digital euro to last at least five years

The digitisation of the euro does not appear to be in any hurry, but this could change quickly in the face of increasing competition worldwide.

Several experts from various European banks agree that it could take Bitcoin Circuit scam another four or five years before there is even proof of concept for a digital euro.

In a panel discussion on Monday entitled „Upgrading Money to the Digital Age: Introducing Digital Euro“, participants agreed that the first task would be to familiarise everyone with the specificities of a digital euro. This will delay real implementation for a long time to come.

Digital central bank currencies, so-called CBDCs, have been a very popular topic of discussion in recent years, especially since the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Austėja Šostakaitė from the European Central Bank said that the ECB would not take a decision on whether it would seriously introduce a digital euro until mid 2021. This contradicts the forecast of the ECB President, who said that the time would come in January. For the time being, according to Šostakaitė, the question is: „How do we introduce the euro into the ecosystem and how does it work with commercial banks‘ money?

 Presentation from Austėja Šostakaitė for Upgrading Money to the Digital Age

Carl Andreas Claussen, an advisor to the Swedish Riksbank, said that the central bank will finalise a proof of concept for its e-Krown in February. But he also estimated that an actual launch would take „another four or five years“. Claussen said:

„There are some legal issues and this is such a big issue that we cannot decide on them. We need some political support. We suggested to the Parliament that it should set up a committee of experts to look into it“.

Sweden is a member of the European Union, but not of the euro zone. This means that the country continues to use its own currency. Cash consumption in Sweden is among the lowest in the world. This means that the country has made a certain leap in the digitisation of its currency. Claussen also indicated that he wanted to make cross-border payments possible. However, given the relative use of the euro or dollar, very few are made in krona.

With regard to the euro itself, Šostakaitė explained that external competition could speed up the existing timetable for development: „If we see foreign CBDCs or perhaps Facebook coming into the euro zone, this could speed things up“, she explained.

Facebook’s Libra is currently on track to be launched in January as a Stablecoin pegged to the US dollar.