Russia's central bank begins research on blockchain technology to create the first national digital currency

The Russian Central Bank has begun researching Bitcoin blockchain technology, which has led to rumors that, according to Spanish media El Mundo, Russia has decided to study a new national digital currency - BitRuble , which will allegedly be regulated by the Russian national central bank system.

Russia’s Central Bank to Work with Payment Company QIWI to Build a National Digital Currency System

Last week, Coin Telegraph reported that Russian payment company QIWI was planning to create a digital currency similar to Bitcoin, the “bitrouble,” but the decision was strongly opposed by Russia’s financial ombudsman, Pavel Medvedev.

Medvedev said:

"This is absolutely illegal and this rogue technology is absolutely inappropriate. The constitution has already stipulated who has the right to issue currency in Russia, and it is the central bank. The only currency in Russia is the ruble. All other currencies are illegal and this dishonorable thing will be a criminal offense."

But yesterday, Olga Skorobogatov, deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank, reported that Russia is studying blockchain technology for digital currencies and Bitcoin. In addition, she also said that Qiwi will not be separated from the national research plan at present.

Ms Skorobogatov told RIA in an interview:

“We have created a working group to delve deeper into this topic. We are just at the beginning and it is very interesting, even the banks themselves are interested. We are really learning about the technology, its possibilities and its uses. We need to understand how it is applied in real life.”

According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, payment service provider QIWI has registered all bitrouble-related domains, including bitrouble.com, bitrouble.org, bitru.rf, and bitrub.li.

According to domain name investor Pavel Gross-Dneprov, a bitrubl.rf domain name could be sold for 1 million rubles.

Dneprov explained that after QIWI announced the bitrouble plan, most of the “bitruble” domains were already registered. He also criticized QIWI for its reckless behavior, saying:

“QIWI should have registered all popular ‘bitruble’ domains for 10,000 rubles before announcing the project. Now, the company will have to spend at least 10,000 euros to get them back from the squatters or sue them in court.”

It is reported that banks around the world have begun to study digital currency and Bitcoin's blockchain technology, but the Russian Central Bank may be the first national banking system to take this step.

In addition, although Ecuador has created an electronic money system called EMS, it is far from being a cryptocurrency. It is more similar to Apple Pay than Bitcoin.

If a country as influential as Russia starts to create its own cryptocurrency, the impact it will have will be huge. We will be keeping a close eye on the progress of the Russian Central Bank’s research.

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