Over 30% of Russian banks not ready to embrace CBDC, report finds

Almost a third of Russian banks face technological hurdles in their preparation for the digital ruble, according to a new report by Russian news outlet Vedomosti.

A survey conducted by Flant and Diasoft among more than 150 banking IT professionals reveals that 30% of financial institutions lack the necessary IT infrastructure to support the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The findings come as the Bank of Russia recently announced a postponement of the digital ruble’s mass implementation. This was originally scheduled for July 1, 2025.

Survey highlights technical readiness gaps for a CBDC

The Flant and Diasoft survey of more than 150 technical directors, IT directors, architects, digital transformation managers, and DevOps engineers revealed varying levels of preparedness across Russia’s banking sector. Only 20% of respondents stated their IT infrastructure, business processes, and internal regulations fully meet the requirements for implementing the digital ruble.

Half of the banking IT specialists surveyed (50%) described their readiness as partial. This means that preparations are underway, but substantial improvements are still needed for full implementation. The remaining 30% acknowledged their systems are not ready at all for the CBDC integration.

Security concerns also feature prominently in the findings, with 14% of respondents expressing worries about information security risks. These concerns come from the strict data protection requirements in the financial sector and the increased risk of cyberattacks when processing such volumes of digital currency data.

The survey highlights a particular divide between larger banks and smaller institutions. According to Oleg Vylegzhanin, resource director of Devlonika (Softline Group), many medium and small banks that operate in regional or industry niches were never created with a focus on digital assets. These institutions have had limited opportunities to invest in developing IT services, likely comprising the 30% whose infrastructure remains unprepared.

Konstantin Aksenov, head of the Deckhouse development department at Flant noted that successful implementation of the digital ruble will depend on banks’ ability to combine innovations with the modernization of outdated systems.

Implementation timeline shifted amid pilot program challenges

The digital ruble would be Russia‘s third national currency since President Vladimir Putin signed an implementation law in July 2023. The central bank had set a mass launch on July 1, 2025. Systemically important banks were supposed to have their financial infrastructure in place by then.

But in late February, the central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina announced that the regulator would postpone this deadline. The Bank of Russia has not yet established a new date for the mass start.

As Nabiullina describes, the banks asked for the delay, although the pilot program was progressing smoothly. The pilot is in a trial run with a small number of 1,700 citizens and approximately 30 firms in 15 banks. They are Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, and Gazprombank.

A Bank of Russia representative explained to Vedomosti that the schedule change for big high-tech projects with multiple participants is a normal process of work. The central bank mentioned the success of the pilot and said it will continue with mass implementation only when assured that all possible problems have been removed with pilot participants.

Participating banks registered different results. MKB is engaged in integrating on the digital ruble platform but is confronted with the challenge of no off-the-shelf solutions for rapid integration. Prio-Vneshtorgbank is on schedule but noted the significant financial investment cost of the project. Dom.RF Bank achieved minimum functional standards but explained that the shift to the industrial development phase requires additional development.

The earlier released timeline had laid down that all institutions with universal licenses must have been prepared by July 1, 2026, and institutions with basic licenses only by July 1, 2027.

Bank resistance tied to control and profitability concerns

Some experts argue that the adoption of the digital ruble is not simply because of technical problems, but banks would also be hesitant to give up control over clients’ money. Dmitry Gachko, the founder of ITG corporation and IT Park Rus, claims that traditional banks, on one hand, do know that the digital ruble will cut down their control over clients’ money to some degree or even completely.

The technical requirements of this implementation seem really high. Director of the cloud and data department at Reksoft, Ruslan Zaedinov, noted that banks should implement an interface between the digital ruble and regular ruble transactions at the process level.

Yuri Shvydchenko, Director of the TeDo technology practice, believes the implementation project would span 6-10 months with a budget of around 150 million rubles. Some banks say they will go ahead despite the obstacles. VTB said it would be technologically prepared within the previously established timeframe and was awaiting a decision from the central bank to give it the green light on a new launch date.

Sinara, Sovcombank, and Rosselkhozbank also claimed technical readiness. Center-Invest Bank, which entered the pilot project in 2023, suggested that it could share its experience in regulating documentation using software and testing digital ruble transactions via budgets, enterprise accounts, and organizations in the social sphere of the regions.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Coming Soon - A New Way to Earn Passive Income with DeFi in 2025. Learn More