Russia's central bank, the Bank of Russia, warns digital currencies can eventually become a competitor against the SWIFT payment system, iHodl Russia has learned, citing Olga Skorobogatova, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia.
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Skorobogatova estimates over 30 regulators are now working on national digital currencies.
"I think that this is the speed with which the regulators plunged into this topic, just says that on the horizon of five to seven years, just a few countries will come out with a national digital currency," she says.
As a result, SWIFT "may not be needed," as these are already other technological interactions, the bank official emphasizes. However, as she noted, SWIFT could be one of the platforms for digital currencies turnover.
The use of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) for international settlements is an interesting case as such calculations are more expensive than domestic ones, said Aleksey Zabotkin, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia. Zabotkin notes the regulators should be sure that these types of currencies work reliably and safely and that the demand for this form of money is "indeed what we expect."
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