Russia staying behind the leaders in the digital currency race is not that bad

A Russian official contended that the nation ought to have launched research on a central bank digital currency four years ago in order to claim leadership in the field.

A Russian official says there is no rush to create a digital ruble, believing that a slower process would be more secure and fight poverty.

Dmitry Peskov, a special representative of the President of the Russian Federation, believes that Russia needed to start dealing with its own digital currency four years ago to qualify for leadership in this area. But being behind the leaders can also be beneficial.

The digital rouble may appear in Russia in 3–7 years if its development begins right now, said Peskov. At the same time he noted that Russia has no chance to become a leader in this area, it was necessary to start the process four years ago:

But why? The risk in terms of finance is so great that it seems to me that the “fast second” strategy is much more effective than trying to be the first. Let’s see what the leader will do, what barriers he will face”.

According to the special representative of the President, such tactics can help to bypass many difficulties and in the end can lead to a new “financial miracle”:

“As it happened to us, for example, with non-cash payments. The central bank has calmly built the relevant infrastructure, and at some point we bypassed many countries. As they say now, this is a “Russian card miracle”. I think our Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance are precisely capable of another such miracle”.

He added that the digital rouble will help solve the problem of poverty, as the new currency allows making payments more transparent:

“All talks and government programs to combat poverty are based on the need to move to a targeted model to help those who really need it and not those who are formally entitled to it”.

In order to use this kind of digital services, one needs access to digital infrastructure, there must be two things: a special device and access to the Internet, said Peskov.

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