The Russian government has paid a monthly salary in digital rubles for the first time, indicating it’s ready to continue to do that upon request.
The news comes almost a full year in advance of the planned launch of Russia’s coin for public use, which will be carried out in stages, beginning next fall.
Russia starts paying digital ruble salaries on request
Russia has for the first time employed its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to pay a salary, the Ministry of Finance (Minfin) announced.
“The first budget payment in digital rubles has been successfully completed,” the department stated in a press release published on its website on Wednesday. It further detailed:
“The Russian Treasury has made the first salary payment in digital rubles to an individual holding a government position in the Russian Federation.”
The department added that the experiment to introduce the sovereign coin into the budgetary process is being carried out jointly with the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), its issuer.
Starting from January 1, 2026, the Minfin and the CBR will enable transactions between digital ruble accounts, the ministry also unveiled.
The digital variant of the national fiat will be used for intra-budgetary transfers and to make various payments from the federal budget as well, explains the announcement.
The ministry noted that payments in digital rubles will be made only at a recipient’s request. It did not reveal, however, who was the first to ask to have their wages credited in CBDC.
Financial committee chair shares more
Russian media found out that the first digital ruble salary was paid to Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Committee on Financial Markets at the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament.
Aksakov has been closely involved in legislative efforts to regulate digital financial assets in Russia and create the legal basis for the country’s own digital currency.
The lawmaker received the money in his wallet on the CBR’s dedicated platform and then joined the testing of the digital Russian ruble by making some payments, his press service told RBC.
The deputy transferred funds to the Life Line foundation for children with illnesses and to the SOS Children’s Villages charity for orphans.
He also used the coins to place an order at a Teremok restaurant, a fast food chain that offers traditional Russian dishes on its menu.
In July, Aksakov unveiled that he had asked relevant agencies to make him “the first person to start receiving a salary in digital rubles,” the business news outlet recalled.
Digital ruble to be launched in 2026
The Bank of Russia began developing its CBDC in 2021. Two years later, the Russian parliament adopted the necessary legislation for its introduction.
The CBR started trials later that same year, inviting a limited number of participants, including commercial banks, companies and private individuals.
The coin’s launch was initially planned for 2025, but the monetary authority postponed it for next year. Following a call from President Vladimir Putin for its wide adoption this summer, the regulator scheduled it for September 1, 2026.
The state-issued digital currency will be introduced in several stages. The dates were also approved by Russian lawmakers with a special law, which Putin signed in July.
In June, the Moscow Metro, the subway system of the Russian capital, announced it had made its first digital ruble payment.
In August, Russia registered the first real estate deal sealed using the government cryptocurrency, as reported by Cryptopolitan.
And in September, St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport, Russia’s second busiest, accepted digital rubles from a visitor who paid for parking, using his smartphone to scan a QR code. The air transit hub plans to introduce the CBDC payment option for other services in the future.
