Russia’s Finance Ministry said on Friday that some of its employees received their wages in digital rubles for the first time.
Payments in the central bank’s digital currency are being made available to Russian citizens voluntarily, and began on Thursday, October 1, according to the Ministry of Finance. Press release.
The ministry did not disclose how many participants were paid in digital currency or the total amount of salary.
During the federal budget spending trial in 2025, about 16 million digital rubles ($192,245) were distributed, so the ministry implemented proven rails in its own salary system, it said.
According to the release, work on introducing the digital ruble into the budget process is being carried out by the Bank of Russia in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance.
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Cointelegraph reported on July 2 that Russia’s central bank planned to launch the digital currency on September 1, when major banks and retail companies began enabling transactions with the new currency.
The digital currency was launched as a complement to Russia’s fiat currency, the ruble, and will primarily be accepted by financial and credit institutions, Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti said at the time.
The digital ruble, whose development began in 2021, has been targeted by sanctions from European Union authorities, who announcement Ban on currency in April.
The European Council said the sanctions package was in response to Russia’s “war of aggression against Ukraine” which it launched in February 2022.
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