- The Ministry of Finance paid some employees in digital rubles for the first time in early October.
- The voluntary salary program began on Oct. 1, building on successful budget trials from earlier in 2025.
- The European Council had previously imposed preemptive sanctions on the digital currency in April.
Russia’s Ministry of Finance announced on Friday that some employees had received their wages in digital rubles for the first time. The voluntary payment option became available to citizens on Thursday, Oct. 1, according to a ministry press release.
The ministry did not disclose how many participants received digital wages or the total payroll amount. However, the salary disbursement follows federal budget spending trials conducted earlier in 2025, which disbursed roughly 16 million digital rubles ($192,245).
The broader commercial rollout of the digital ruble began on Sept. 1, when major banks and retail companies started enabling transactions. The Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance are jointly working to integrate the currency into the national budget process.
Development of the digital ruble began in 2021, but the project faces preemptive sanctions from European Union authorities. The European Council Ukraine-20th-round-of-stern-eu-sanctions-hits-energy-military-industrial-complex-trade-and-financial-services-including-crypto/?__cf_chl_f_tk=1DdjbKMhz5EJV780riUot5iTtRprKqy1GMSIMjn6Sds-1783016420-1.0.1.1-1ivCsRyHAqNCcO85JobvWMfNLviFxcRAHrjvh20dETA” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow noopener”>announced restrictions on the currency in April, citing Russia’s “war of aggression against Ukraine” as the reason for the sanctions package.
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