Russia started the test phase today Tuesday of the digital ruble based on blockchain technology hoping to limit the impact of international sanctions.

“VTB has become the first bank to successfully test digital ruble transactions on its mobile app,” Russia’s second-largest bank said in a statement.

In total, a dozen other banks and 600 individuals are also affected by the “trial phase,” the Russian central bank (BCR) said last week.

Currently they will be able to make payments in 30 points of sale located in 11 cities of the country.

In the long term, “businesses will be free for citizens and with a minimal fee for businesses,” BCR told AFP.

Moscow’s stated goal is to make its financial system more airtight and limit the impact of international restrictions.

Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are also based on blockchain technology (allowing direct transactions from a decentralized software system), the digital ruble belongs to CBDCs (“central bank digital currency”, in English), which are highly regulated.

It is issued directly by the Russian central bank (BCR) and stored in electronic portofolia The FSB security services oversee the security of the system.

Although the authorities say they want a digital ruble to make payments more “secure”, some observers instead believe that the introduction of such a form of currency will mainly allow the Russian government to control its citizens even more.

As Russia faced sanctions, it was pushed to quickly develop alternatives to the Swift global payments system — from which its banks were largely barred after the attack in Ukraine — while it proceeded to de-dollarize its transactions.

Russia thus becomes the 21st country in the world to enter the trial phase for the circulation of a digital currency, according to the count of researchers from the Atlantic Council. Eleven other countries, including Nigeria, have already introduced a CBDC.

Moscow hopes the digital ruble will be extended to all Russians who would like it “by 2025-2027”, according to BCR’s response to AFP.