Russian CBDC pilot program getting mixed reactions

Not all citizens & businesses are in support of the country’s CBDC pilot launch. Different people have different opinions.

Russia is a very big market for crypto traders. In this country, it is easy for Bitcoin mining firms to operate mining businesses, as they can get electricity supply at low tariffs & also a very cool environment. Since Q2 2022, Russian government agencies have been giving favor to the crypto sector, while the country’s central bank has always opposed the crypto adoption & regulation proposals.

Recently the Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank, successfully launched the Russian CBDC pilot program. Reports noted that all the citizens are not favoring the country’s CBDC, which is not a strange thing for people in any country.

Sergey Katyrin, the President of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the country’s businesses will be able to utilize the CBDC’s message option. The messaging system allows the Fintech companies to design the CBDC wallet according to the needs of the businesses.

Some people are happy that CBDC P2P transactions will be free for the citizens, while citizens & businesses will be required to pay 0.3% & 2.5% fees.

Ivan Gostev, commercial director of GIS Mining, supported Russian CBDC & said that it will allow the country’s businesses & start-ups to use the fastest & convenient payment services.

Svetlana Shulman, an analyst at the digital agency TexTerra, criticized CBDC citing privacy concerns of CBDC users. According to Shulman, CBDC will allow the central bank to monitor the people’s every financial transaction.

Shulman explained that bank transactions from one account to another account are not easily traceable, which helps people to maintain financial privacy but here CBDC is a different thing and the central bank will be able to detect & trace all the precise transactions easily.

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