A digital Ruble means that they don't even need to physically print more bills to further devalue their currency. Now they can just either add to a database column or stick a few more blocks on a block chain. Free money!
I to one extent agree. It gives governments too much power and in practice rewards already established banks. On the other side it isn't exactly practical for say an airline to buy a new airplane with a truckload of cash.
But but buh Comrade Putin is a stalwart Communist. Surely he knows that fiat money is the invention of the Kapitalist pigs! The Soviet Union should do away with money.
What the hell is going with governments worldwide all of the sudden creating digital currencies all at once? This is like the 4th or 5th country I've seen announcing a digital currency in like a week.
The conspiracy nut in me says that they hope it will be easier to control, especially inflation and deflation. Maybe even have an raiser time tracking people and sanctioning them as needed. Maybe they think it will be easier to clamp down on stuff like money laundering and tax evasion.