Chairman of the Belarusian national bank Pavel Kallaur told a decision on a CBDC would be made “ at the level of head of state ” after consultations.


The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus has prepared a pilot program for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to the news agency. The country will make a decision on the allocation of a digital Belarusian ruble by the end of the year, chairman of the national bank Pavel Kallaur told.

“ By the end of the year, after discussions and consultations, we should determine the capability and feasibility of presenting a digital ruble in our country, ” Kallaur told. “ The decision will be made at the position of the head of state. ”

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If the project goes already with creating a Belarusian CBDC, there will be a pilot program that will “experiment with a narrow range of participants — banks and individuals.” Kallaur told, “We are working on setting up a demo interpretation, a platform to try it [a CBDC] out.” He added:

“We will look at the experience of the Russian Central Bank, to learn from their mistakes and not make our own.”

Kallaur remarked that the preface of a CBDC would require changes to the civil code, banking and tax codes, and the national budget.

Kallaur called CBDC a “ third form of money ” and told that a digital ruble would be important like different forms of “non-cash money ” but available offline as well as online. “Cross-border payment is the most interesting technology for us, ” he told. “If other countries introduce a digital currency, we should be ready to hook up our system so our citizens and companies have a high position of service.”

Belarus has taken the path to establishing itself as a modern financial center, creating the High-Tech Park economic zone and taking measures to set up crypto mining and exchange in the country.

(DEREK ANDERSEN, Cointelegraph, 2023)