The digital ruble has just reached a new milestone in Russia. For the first time, some employees of the Ministry of Finance received their salaries directly in the central bank’s digital currency. The scheme remains voluntary and Moscow has revealed neither the number of participants nor the total amount paid. After test payments and national launch, Russian CBDC is now entering payroll.
In brief
- Some employees of the Russian Finance Ministry received their salaries in digital rubles.
- Payment remains voluntary and does not replace other means of receiving salary.
- By 2025, about 16 million digital rubles had already been used during budget tests.
The digital ruble arrives in public salaries
The Russian Finance Ministry confirmed on Friday that some of its employees received their remuneration in digital rubles. This premiere comes a month after the large-scale launch of the digital ruble on September 1.
The principle remains simple: no one is forced to give up their traditional salary. The Bank of Russia clarifies that citizens can still receive their remuneration in cash, by bank transfer or on a Mir card. The digital ruble simply adds one more possibility. To benefit from it, the employee must accept it and have an account on the dedicated platform.
The central bank had also prepared this step as early as June. It had set the pricing rules allowing companies and organizations to pay salaries and other remuneration in digital rubles.
Until the end of 2026, these transfers are free for the payer. From January 2027, the planned rate will be one ruble per executed order, with a minimum of 15 rubles per ledger. For the moment, Moscow is therefore experimenting on a small scale. But the infrastructure exists.
Moscow had already tested 16 million rubles
Paying salaries does not come out of nowhere. By 2025, about 16 million digital rubles had already circulated during tests related to federal budget spending. The Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia now use this same infrastructure for remuneration.
Deployment has accelerated significantly since September. Just ten days after its national opening, 87,000 digital ruble accounts had already been created. More than 50,000 transactions had also been carried out.
The digital ruble functions as a third form of Russian currency, alongside cash and rubles held in bank accounts. It is therefore not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin. The issue and the platform remain directly controlled by the Bank of Russia. Digital ruble accounts are accessible through participating banks, but the units themselves exist on central bank infrastructure.
Budget payments are also gradually integrated. Since September, the Federal Treasury has been able to make certain transfers to individuals or businesses in digital rubles. These operations are currently billed at 0% of the amount transferred. The pay slip is simply the next step.
Digital ruble scales up despite reserves
The Russian calendar now becomes much more concrete. Large banks and several large merchants have already had to allow the use of the digital ruble since September. Other establishments will gradually follow until 2028.
This rise in power does not, however, mean that the market is massively demanding this new currency. At the end of August, Sber’s financial director, Taras Skvortsov, explained that he was still not seeing any clear demand from individuals, businesses or even financial institutions. Russia’s largest bank technically supports the project, but remains cautious about its actual adoption.
Russia is also developing a regulated crypto market. Since September, new rules have governed exchanges, depositories and investors. However, cryptocurrency payments remain prohibited for ordinary purchases within the country, while certain international uses are permitted.
Moscow therefore clearly separates crypto and digital ruble. Employees of the Ministry of Finance now illustrate this difference. They do not receive a speculative token. They directly receive a currency issued by the central bank, usable on public infrastructure and integrated into the budgetary system. The number of employees affected remains unknown. But after the tests, the personal accounts and the first national payments, the digital ruble has still found a very concrete place: the salary.
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