Russia launches digital ruble in government payments

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The Russian government has kickstarted the use of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in salaries and social security payments as the country awaits a national rollout later this year.

Announcing the initiative, the Ministry of Finance said the digital ruble can now be used to make salary payments for government officials. It can also be used for paying maintenance in government properties, social security payouts, and other capital expenditures.

Uptake is not mandatory government officials will have the option to select the CBDC or continue using traditional payment methods.

A wider national rollout is scheduled for later this year. The Russian government had initially scheduled the launch for July 2025, but pushback from merchants and industry bodies forced the government to extend the deadline to September 2026. The merchants had requested a two-year extension, claiming the costs to train personnel and build new systems were quite high.

Despite the pushback, the Russian government maintains that the digital ruble will transform the payments space. Alla Bakina, who heads the National Payment System Department at the central bank, recently claimed that the CBDC will account for up to 7% of all cashless payments within a few years after its rollout this year. Speaking to local outlet TASS, he added that Russia was privileged to be among a select group of countries embracing CBDCs.

“There are very few countries in the world that are as prepared to work with a central bank digital currency as we are. We are among the leaders, and our digital national currency has great potential,” he stated.

Integrating the CBDC in government payments offers the perfect first ground to test the digital ruble under strict oversight. With a federal budget of $409 billion in 2024 and over $100 billion in oil and gas-related federal revenues, the digital currency would be sufficiently stress-tested before it’s rolled out to retail users.

To enable the use of the digital ruble in government payments, lawmakers amended the Federal Law “On Amendments to the Budget Code of the Russian Federation,” with the changes taking effect on January 1, TASS reports.

Russia is among a few major economies still pursuing a CBDC, with the likes of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada switching focus to stablecoins. China is the other, with the top bank now paying interest to holders of the digital yuan, effectively becoming a rival to local lenders.

Watch: The state of play and what’s to come with CBDCs