National Bank Intends To Launch Digital Belarusian Ruble

By 2026.

The National Bank of Belarus approved the concept of the digital Belarusian ruble and decided to start the development of the DBR platform.

The digital Belarusian ruble is a digital form of the Belarusian ruble, a legal tender that performs all the functions of money, has the same value as cash and non-cash Belarusian rubles, is a direct claim on and is issued by the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus.

It is planned to classify settlements using the digital Belarusian ruble as non-cash settlements, the press service of the National Bank explained.

The National Bank also approved the plan for the implementation of the DBR, noting that the timing of the measures may be changed.

Plans for 2024

Development of the DBR platform.

Drawing up the functional and technical requirements for the DBR platform.

Testing of the DBR platform.

Certification of cryptographic algorithms and information protection means.

Development of a demo version of the cross-chain bridge.

Testing cross-border payments on the demo version of the cross-chain bridge.

Preparation of legislative amendments.

Study the economic aspects of cross-border payments and develop the concept of cross-border interaction and use of DBR in cross-border settlements.

Study other economic and technological aspects of DBR implementation.

Plans for 2025:

Development and testing of a cross-chain bridge.

Amendment of the legal framework.

Implementation of the DBR platform (B2B payments of real value, including cross-border payments, smart contracts).

Explore ways to implement anonymity and offline payments.

Complete the audit of the DBR platform.

Complete the certification of cryptographic algorithms and information security tools.

Investigate other economic and technological aspects of the DBR implementation.

The platform implementation is expected to be completed in 2026. The plan foresees the following activities for this year

Completion of DBR platform functionality (C2C, C2B, B2C, G2C, C2G payments, anonymity, offline payments, full smart contract functionality).

Completion of cross-chain bridge functionality.

Complete the implementation of the DBR platform.

Complete the implementation of the cross-chain bridge.