{"id":62721,"date":"2023-09-18T21:49:57","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T01:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/markets\/crypto\/russia-central-bank-dismisses-cbdc-biometrics-link\/"},"modified":"2023-09-18T21:49:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T01:49:59","slug":"russia-central-bank-dismisses-cbdc-biometrics-link","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ifintechworld.com\/?p=62721","title":{"rendered":"Russia Central Bank Dismisses CBDC Biometrics Link"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Russian Central Bank says that its CBDC, the digital ruble, \u201chas nothing to do with\u201d state efforts to collect biometric data.<\/p>\n

The bank began piloting its CBDC just over a month ago in 11 cities nationwide.<\/p>\n

Russian MPs last year voted in a law that allows banks and state agencies to collect biometric data on their clients.<\/p>\n

This data includes facial scans and fingerprints.<\/p>\n

This gave rise to the Unified Biometric System (UBS), which the Kremlin and banks will use as a national digital remote identification platform.<\/p>\n

But the two projects appear to have been conflated by many observers.<\/p>\n

And that has given rise to a spate of digital ruble and biometrics-themed fraudsters.<\/p>\n

Last month, multiple regions warned that their citizens had been targetted with emails and phone calls from apparent scammers.<\/p>\n

Many of these alleged scammers asked potential victims to submit biometric data in order to convert their cash ruble savings to CBDC tokens.<\/p>\n

Per the state-run TV network Channel One (Pyerviy Kanal), Elvira Nabiullina, the Governor of the Russian Central Bank, said that the digital ruble \u201chas nothing to do with biometrics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nabiullina added:<\/p>\n

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\u201cBiometrics and the digital ruble are two projects that are absolutely unrelated to each other. The use of the digital ruble does not involve the mandatory use of biometrics. Both projects \u2013 the UBS biometrics submission and the use of the digital ruble \u2013 are completely voluntary. This is our principled position on the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Russian CBDC & Biometric Data Projects Not Linked, Bank Claims<\/h2>\n

Nabiullina also noted that while \u201csubmitting biometric data\u201d was \u201ca voluntary decision for Russian citizens,\u201d over 50 million people had come forward to hand over their data thus far.<\/p>\n

The Deputy Head of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development\u2019s Digital Identification Technology Department, Yuri Shabano, claimed that \u201cless than 1%\u201d of people had thus far \u201crefused\u201d to submit their biometric data.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n