Russian Central Bank: No need to issue a national digital currency

• The Russian Central Bank chief had earlier stated that they were looking to create a nationwide digital currency.
• The coin is not being issued because “there are many risks, and the advantages may not be obvious enough.”

The head of the Russian central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said in a forum that there is no need to issue a nationwide cryptocurrency. As per Russian news agency TASS, Nabiullina admitted that while the country’s regulators have been studying cryptocurrencies, there no need to jump the boat and issue on for the country. Nabiullina said:

“Not only for technological reasons, but also because it is (difficult) to really estimate what advantages will the national digital currency give, for example, in comparison with existing electronic non-cash payments. There are many risks, and the advantages may not be obvious enough.”

This is quite a backtrack from the comments Nabiullina made back in June. As reported by The Block, back then, she said that the central bank was looking into launching a digital currency. She did concede that a project of this scale “cannot be realized immediately.”