TechFlow News, March 18 — According to Cryptonews, the Central Bank of Russia has invited the Republic of Tatarstan to assist in testing smart contract functionalities for the digital ruble. The Ministry of Finance of Tatarstan has established a working group that will conduct experiments on conditional and targeted fund disbursements using the central bank’s testing platform, with the trial expected to conclude by the third quarter of 2025.
Just one month earlier, the Central Bank had "indefinitely postponed" its nationwide rollout of the digital ruble, originally scheduled for August this year. However, this new test indicates that development of the digital ruble project continues. Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina stated that the new launch timeline will be announced at a later date.
Meanwhile, Moscow Metro has also announced an expansion of its digital ruble pilot program, partnering with the central bank and VTB Bank to test digital ruble top-ups for Troika smart cards. These developments resemble China's digital yuan pilot projects, although Russia has previously indicated that one of the primary purposes of the digital ruble is to facilitate cross-border payments between Russian businesses and countries using digital fiat currencies.
