Two months and failure. During this period, Russians opened 300 thousand digital ruble wallets - 0.2% of the population of 146 million inhabitants. Performed 235 thousand operations. The average wallet has never been used.
Central bank data shows zero consumer demand. The digital ruble does not provide cashback, does not charge interest on the balance and does not offer incentives. For the end user, the product costs exactly zero: it adds nothing beyond the non-cash ruble, but requires a separate wallet and separate operations.
The state has built an infrastructure that no one is attracted to. Until the central bank builds a financial incentive (interest-contingent holding) or makes the digital ruble a mandatory channel for subsidies, benefits and government procurement, the system will exist with zero organic activity. But the budget pays for a simple infrastructure.
Alas, retail banking has not yet received a competitor.