The Russian central bank continues to reveal more details about its impending digital currency and is now apparently planning to take commissions for the digital ruble transactions.
The fees for Russia’s central bank digital currency transactions will be less than those of wire transfers, Bank of Russia’s director of financial technologies department Kirill Pronin reportedly stated.
He explained that the CBDC transactions’ commissions will not be higher than those implemented within Russia’s Faster Payments System,a service that allows individuals make instant interbank transfers.
The FPS system was launched in 2019, permitting users to transfer up to 100,000 rubles with zero commissions. For transfers beyond this amount, the system charges a 0.5% fee of the transfer amount, but no more than 1,500 rubles per one transfer.
As previously reported, the Russian central bank plans to launch the first pilot tests for a digital ruble in 2022. The digital currency is designed to act as a third form of money alongside cash and non-cash; the potential reduction in the cost of payment services has been touted as one of its key benefits.