OREANDA-NEWS. The commencement of the digital ruble is a trend, that it is useless to fight, says Herman Gref, President and Chairman of the Management Board of «Sberbank». According to him the only question is in the model of it's implementation.

«It is impossible to fight trends, but it can be suspended or accelerated», Gref told reporters on Tuesday, February 16. He added, that he would not like to give any estimates of the implementation of the digital currency.

According to Gref, «Sberbank» is currently engaged in an active dialogue with the regulator on this issue. «We agreed, including with the leadership of the Central Bank, to hold a separate meeting on this topic, to weigh the pros and cons of all options», said Gref.

The Bank of Russia published an advisory report on the digital ruble in October 2020. The regulator is considering the possibility of expanding the system of monetary circulation, adding two forms of the Russian ruble (cash and non-cash) to the third — digital. Citizens will be able to transfer digital rubles to their electronic wallets and use them both online and offline. The decision on the issue of the digital ruble has not been made yet.

The banking community pointed out a number of possible negative consequences for their buisness from the introduction of the digital ruble, assessed these risks as high and did not see an urgent need for a quick launch of this project.