FX.co ★ Bank of Russia starts testing stablecoins

The Russian central bank keeps up with the times and continues exploring the cryptocurrency market. In particular, it has recently launched testing of stablecoins. Nonetheless, the regulator did not change its attitude towards the digital money, particularly stablecoins, and remained opposed to any financial systems that are not controlled by the government. However, it would be very unwise of the Bank of Russia to ignore the growing popularity of the virtual assets, so it decided to get an insight into this fast-developing sphere. Governor Elvira Nabiullina said that the bank was testing stablecoins in a regulatory sandbox which welcomed companies that want to issue tokens secured by some real assets. The regulator would watch how stablecoins work. However, it was not assumed that the cryptocurrency would function as a means of payment and become substitutes for money, Ms. Nabiullina added. Remarkably, the demand for digital money in Russia has decreased significantly compared to the period 18 months ago. Meanwhile, other countries are demonstrating a greater interest in both the blockchain technology and digital money. Namely, Sweden and China are rather enthusiastic about it. There is a high chance that the Swiss krone will be the first one to become a state digital currency. The regulatory sandbox is a special set of rules that enables innovation companies to test their products and services in a confined environment with no risk of breaking local financial legislation.