While over half of Russians are willing to put some money into their nation’s digital ruble, only 2% say they would keep all their savings in it. Insufficient information and fear of system failures are among the biggest factors turning people away from the government-issued digital currency.
Nearly a Quarter of Russians Would Store Less Than $200 in State-Issued Digital Ruble
More than half of Russian citizens aged 18 to 65 are ready to keep money in the central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Bank of Russia, a survey among 2,000 people ordered by the Russian SPB Exchange has shown.
According to the results, quoted by the Russian daily Izvestia on Thursday, almost a quarter of the respondents said they would convert between 5,000 and 20,000 regular rubles (approximately $50–$200) to the digital ones.
About 15% of the polled admitted they would transfer no more than 5,000 rubles to the new electronic form of the national fiat. Another 9% would use the digital ruble system for keeping between 20,000 and 50,000 rubles of their personal funds.
Around 2% of the polled are prepared to store 50,000 to 100,000 rubles in the central bank digital currency. For 3%, the amount would exceed 100,000 rubles. Only 2%, however, are ready to keep all their savings in digital rubles.
Most of those who took part in the survey said they would like to start using the CBDC in their daily lives but some are turned away by the lack of sufficient information about the technology (22%) and fear of cybertheft or failure of the system (21%).
Legislation designed to facilitate the introduction of the digital ruble was adopted by both houses of Russian parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin in July. On Aug. 15, banks participating in the pilot project began testing CBDC operations with real users.
Russia’s monetary authority told Izvestia that it aims to make the digital ruble transactions simple, convenient and cheap for businesses while for citizens they will also be free of charge. The CBDC may enter mass circulation in 2025–2027, the regulator added, noting that initially transfers to the digital ruble wallets will be capped at 300,000 rubles per month (a little over $3,000).
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