⚠️ HRF CBDC ⛓️🪙 alert from HRF for Russian Federation (12-FEB-2024)

🗝️ℹ️ (Key Information)

CBDC Status: Launched

CBDC Launch: 2023-08-15

CBDC Model: Retail

CBDC Issued: n/a

Inflation Rate: 6.69%

One-Sentence Summary:

🇷🇺 Russia's Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot program sparks concerns from the Human Rights Foundation for its potential in corruption and censorship.

✅ 🇷🇺 The Bank of Russia is now in the testing phase of its CBDC project, allowing public access for 13 banks and an anticipated 600 clients.

✅ Expected to join this pilot soon are another 17 banks, testing basic transactions across 30 retail outlets in 11 cities.

✅ The Bank hopes that their CBDC will improve accessibility, offer consistent rates, function offline, provide a secure platform and better customer service.

✅ Anatoly Aksakov, the chair of the Duna Committee of the Financial Market, assures that measures are in place for the CBDC to be used responsibly and not for "unseemly purposes."

✅ Assuming the pilot launches successfully, the Bank of Russia plans to distribute the CBDC, dubbed the digital ruble, to the general public by 2025.

✅ As of January 2024, resources are being organized to launch phone lines for customer service related to the CBDC rollout.

✅ Nevertheless, concerns have been raised about human rights and civil liberties, as Russia scored only 16 out of 100 in the 2023 Freedom House report.

✅ CBDC's potential in contributing to the already prevalent corruption in the country and oppressing dissenting voices complicates the issue.

✅ Critics argue a CBDC could be used as a tool for the government to exert control, eg. freezing and seizing funds of activists and opponents.

#HumanRightsFoundation #CentralBankDigitalCurrency #FreedomHouseReport

What are your thoughts on how CBDCs could impact civil liberties and corruption in countries like Russia?

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