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Transferring $200 abroad costs an average of 6.4% of the amount, while through a bank it is almost 15%. At the same time, the payment message itself reaches the recipient bank in ten minutes. The rest of the time and money goes to the "last mile"—compliance checks, reconciliation, and crediting funds at the local bank. This is not just a technical delay, but a fundamental problem that people are trying to solve in different ways.

At the center of the debate is not the speed of data transmission, but the question of whose obligation you hold in your hands at the moment of settlement: the central bank's, a commercial bank's, a private issuer company's, or a payment network's. This determines who you go to if a payment goes missing, and who uses the money while it sits in the system. This balance is the raw material of the banking economy: it is what they earn on, what they issue loans from, and what they hold clients for.

Russia's answer: two circuits instead of one

The law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights," signed on August 4, comes into force on September 1, 2026. Mandatory registration of crypto exchangers in the Bank of Russia registry will begin on July 1, 2027, and part of the requirements for intermediaries will start in September of the same year. A new category of professional participants emerges—digital depositories, which keep records of clients' crypto assets, maintain primary and backup IT infrastructure in Russia, and compensate for damages in case of unauthorized write-offs. Exchangers with own funds of at least 15 million rubles are legalized.

The criteria for admitting assets to trading are enshrined in the law: capitalization above 5 trillion rubles, average daily turnover above 1 trillion, and a trading history of at least five years. Today, only bitcoin and ether fall under these criteria. For non-qualified investors, a limit of 300 thousand rubles per year with one intermediary is set, along with mandatory testing.

The key provision that will take effect earlier than all others is settlements under foreign trade contracts. Since September 2024, it has been operating in an experimental mode by the Central Bank, and the new law makes it permanent. Domestic payments in cryptocurrency remain prohibited, but not only custodial wallets but also self-custody ones are allowed. When withdrawing over 100 thousand rubles to an external address, a 48-hour delay is provided—it will take effect on September 1, 2027.

Public inside, private outside

Domestically, starting September 1, mandatory acceptance of the digital ruble begins—a state retail currency that the United States has legislatively refused until the end of 2030 and that Europe is only designing. Externally, the circulation of private global assets is legalized. Both instruments are used simultaneously but are separated by purpose: inside—only the public circuit, outside—only the private one.

The logic of the division is simple if you look at obligations. Inside, the balance remains with the Bank of Russia, which provides traceability of settlements and independence from external infrastructure. Outside, an asset is used that none of the transaction participants issues—which is why it works where correspondent channels have become difficult to navigate due to external restrictions in recent years.

The combination of public and private circuits is not unique—China, the UAE, and India do this. The peculiarity of the Russian model lies in the rigid segmentation by payment purpose, shaped by external circumstances no less than by the regulator's design.

Global context and practical conclusion

The American framework took shape in a year: the GENIUS Act (July 2025) requires full backing of stablecoins with liquid assets and directly prohibits paying holders income on the token. Europe chose the opposite instrument: the digital euro is being designed as a public alternative with zero yield and a holding limit, with a pilot scheduled for the second half of 2027 and the first issuance for 2029.

Mastercard closed the acquisition of BVNK on August 3, with the announced March price of up to $1.8 billion, including about $300 million in contingent payments. The asset's value is largely regulatory: BVNK received a MiCA license in Malta in February 2026, valid across the entire EU. In July, Visa launched a stablecoin issuance platform for banks. The share of stablecoins in cross-border retail payments in 2025 was only 0.31%.

Country trajectories diverge: of the eleven BRICS countries, all are studying digital currencies, nine have reached the pilot stage, but none has fully launched a system. Since January 1, 2026, China has reclassified the digital yuan in commercial bank accounts as a deposit obligation—interest accrues on it and deposit insurance applies. India is moving in the opposite direction: the volume of digital rupee in circulation declined for the first time by 24% in the 2025/26 fiscal year, and Brazil in November 2025 shut down the Drex platform, admitting that the technology did not ensure privacy and security.

The digital ruble is still modest: as of July 1, over 25 million digital rubles were in circulation—about $320 thousand for the entire country. But in two months, acceptance will become mandatory for companies with revenue above 120 million rubles. Mandatory acceptance creates a forced flow from bank balances into the Central Bank's obligation—exactly what everyone else avoids.

My conclusion: the question for the next year and a half is not whether the circuits of different countries will align, but whether Russia will repeat China's maneuver—accrue income or otherwise return the balance to banks. The answer will be visible in the dynamics of the deposit base by the end of 2027. For now, the two circuits are not two interfaces, but two different data models: in one, the record is created by the platform operator; in the other, by the network, while the bank only observes.