Digital currency of the central bank as the third form of money of the state

Objective: to consider the digital currency of Central Banks as the third form of money of a state; to identify advantages and disadvantages of this new form of money; to clarify the classification of digital currency of the Central Bank; to analyze the features of infrastructure development of the Central banks fast payments system and private stable coins market; to present the author’s conception of the Bank of Russia digital ruble.Methods: the article uses empirical, historical, logical, country-oriented, comparative and statistical methods of the system approach, which allow studying the possible designs of the Central Bank digital currency in dynamics.Results: the article reveals the macroeconomic factors of the emergence of the Central Bank digital currency; defines the types of classification of the Central Bank digital currency; shows the possible pros and cons of issuing and circulating of the third form of state money; considers the fast payments system and the private stable coins market; clarifies some consequences for monetary and financial stability policy during the transition of the Central Bank to digital currency; shows the advantages and disadvantages of the Central Bank digital currency through the prism of three aspects: the anonymity level, the confidentiality degree and the guaranteed remuneration for market participants; and analyzes the features of the Bank of Russia digital ruble development in the medium term.Scientific novelty: the article shows that the Central Bank digital currency is just the third form of state money, along with cash and non-cash; classification of digital currency has allowed the Central Bank to identify the features of the possible design of digital currency; the prospects and problems of price and financial stability in terms of the circulation of digital currency are considered; an alternative to the Central Banks digital currency is the system of fast payments and private stable coins market; The Bank of Russia should build the digital ruble design on the basic characteristics of the banking system of the Russian Federation (Model D) and the mechanisms combining the technologies of the centralized and distributed ledgers of the Bank of Russia. Practical significance: the main provisions and conclusions of the article can be used to develop a possible design of the digital ruble in the medium term, as well as to clarify the Bank of Russia current target mandates, tools, channels and mechanisms of monetary and financial stability policy, directly related to new trends in the development of both the world economy in general and the Russian economy in particular.