Central Bank of Russia to determine date for full-scale launch of digital ruble by end of year

MOSCOW. May 14 (Interfax) - The Bank Central of Russia will determine the date for the full-scale launch of the digital ruble by the end of the year, Central Bank Deputy Governor Zulfia Kakhrumanova said in the State Duma.

The digital ruble is the third form of the Russian national currency that the CBR plans to issue in addition to the existing forms of cash and non-cash money. The CBR has been conducting a pilot project with real digital rubles since August 15, 2023. The full-scale launch of the digital ruble was originally planned to begin on July 1, 2025, though Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina at the end of February said that full-scale implementation would begin later, and the regulator will announce the exact dates subsequently.

"We will determine the date of the full-scale launch by the end of the year. We are already gradually expanding. We are discussing using new, innovative smart contract services with a number of regions, and it is precisely there that several interesting proposals are arising. We want this of course to be in addition to the payment methods that exist," Kakhrumanova said.

Nabiullina in April said that the digital ruble experiment would cover up to tens of thousands of people by the end of the year, and then expand further.

On April 1, Alla Bakina, head of the Central Bank's payment system department, said that the number of individuals participating in the digital ruble pilot project had risen from 500 at the start of the pilot project in 2023 to 2,000 people, and that the number of legal entities had increased to 50 companies, with another 70 planned to be connected in the near future.

Frank Media previously reported that the CBR has been discussing the full-scale implementation of the digital ruble with the largest banks since mid-2026, citing the senior managers of four major players, both banks and vendors.