Russian mobile carriers have offered the Bank of Russia, the country's central bank, to integrate wallets for storing digital rubles in smartphones, as well as to create additional services for the digital currency.
Linking wallets to users' phone numbers will increase the functionality of the digital ruble, local news outlet Izvestia has reported citing representatives of Beeline and Megafon. They stated:
"We are interested in digital ruble aspects like maintaining wallets on smart devices, which is not part of the current version of the concept, as well as the possibility of performing P2P payment transactions without the participation of financial intermediaries, including offline mode support."
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A Megafon representative said linking the wallets to the users' phone numbers will make it possible to store funds, transfer them and pay with them through smartphones.
The Bank of Russia published its first consultation paper on the development of the digital ruble in October last year. The bank then said users will be able to access the digital ruble in their e-wallets and mobile devices, both online and offline.