The Russians rejected Neviolina's "digital rubles".
In the two months since the full-scale launch of the digital ruble, Russians have opened only about 316,000 such wallets. As of November 1, almost 290,000 citizens and less than 16,000 companies have opened accounts in this form of national currency, the Central Bank of Izvestia said. In absolute terms, this is about 0.25% of the adult population in the country, stated the investment strategist at Garda Capital Alexander Bakhtin. At the same time, in the months of September-October, digital ruble holders made only 235 thousand transactions - less than one per wallet. Basically it was about filling bills.
The interest in this currency dropped significantly already in the second month after the launch: if in September the Russians opened about 7,000 wallets daily, then in October - about 3,000. Bakhtin cites the lack of financial incentives as the main reason: no interest is accrued on the digital ruble balance, and no refund is provided for purchases. In his opinion, the Russians simply tested the new tool out of curiosity, and then returned to bank cards and the Fast Payment System (FPS). Bakhtin believes that even in two or three years, it is unlikely that more than 1% of the population's funds will end up in digital rubles. A turning point can only come with the launch of offline payments (without an Internet connection) and the development of smart contracts (when money is withdrawn only after fulfilling the terms of the transaction), but for now these tools are at an early stage of development, the expert adds.
More details.
Sign up for .
Buy a reliable VPN.