Prospects and threats of digital currencies’ introduction

The purpose of the article is to study the prerequisites, prospects, and threats of introducing the central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the third form of national currency. The article examines the concept of digital currency as an integral element of the new financial system and a tool capable of solving its problems by reducing the chain of interaction between the sender of transactions and the recipient, which will make payments safer, faster, transparent, and cheaper. Within the framework of the conducted research, the following results were obtained: 1) the differences between digital currencies, cryptocurrencies, and fiat money were identified and clearly outlined; 2) the experience of foreign countries in the development of the central bank’s digital currency was studied, and the main fundamental differences in the technologies of wholesale and retail digital currencies were described, as well as the possibilities of their implementation;3) the architecture of the digital ruble was analyzed and the selected two-level retail model was evaluated, on the basis of which the domestic central bank’s digital currency technology was implemented; problem areas of the selected architecture were identified and defined as the vector of its development; 4) prospects for the development and introduction of supranational and international digital currencies were identified, and a model of a single digital currency, “BRICS Pay,” was proposed. The study showed that the economic efficiency of the digital ruble for business as a technology capable of decreasing costs by reducing the number of financial intermediaries in the transaction chain and lowering fees is indisputable, and the digital ruble itself is a logical stage in the evolution of payment and financial systems. The economic feasibility of the digital ruble’s introduction for the country’s economy is more fundamental and consists in the reduction of the level of the shadow sector, the autonomy and independence of the financial system, simplifying cross-border settlements, and overcoming sanctions restrictions.