Russian State Duma Official: International CBDC Settlements to Become ‘Common Practice’ in 5 Years

Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Financial Markets Committee, has predicted that international trade will migrate to CBDC for settlements during the next five years. Aksakov stressed that not many countries have made progress using these digital currencies, but he believes this will be addressed soon.

Russian State Duma Official Bets on National CBDC as Future of International Trade Settlements

More countries consider central bank digital currencies (CBDC) as part of their future financial trade infrastructure. Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Russian State Duma Financial Markets Committee, has stated that he believes using CBDC for international trade settlements will become commonplace in the next five years, even when few countries use these tools today.

While attending the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), an event that assesses Russia’s position as part of the global economic system, Aksakov explained that while the technological solutions for this were still unavailable, CBDCs would become the norm for these transactions.

Aksakov also offered insights about how Russia would use its upcoming CBDC, the digital ruble, as part of its trade exchanges with friendly countries. He declared:

I admit that digital ruble will probably be used for international payments as early as next year, with first settlements carried out, not in the first half of the year though.

Aksakov hinted that the first CBDC settlements could be completed in Sino-Russia exchanges due to China’s advancements with its own CBDC, the digital yuan. “Both we and they already got certain experience, which is why with China it would be interesting to launch the process of settlements in digital currencies,” he stated. Nonetheless, he also mentioned Belarus as one of the possible partners for these CBDC trades.

China has already debuted the digital yuan as part of the commodities trade. With project Mbridge, a system that presents functionality to allow CBDC exchanges between China and other partners, entering the minimum viable product stage, trade based on CBDC settlements might be coming earlier than expected.

What do you think about using CBDC for international trading settlements? Tell us in the comments section below.

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