Russia's Finance Ministry Pays Staff Wages in Digital Rubles for First Time

The move builds on a 2025 pilot in which roughly 16 million digital rubles, valued at about $192,245 at the time, were used for federal budget spending. The ministry said the infrastructure tested during that exercise was later applied to salary payments. Cointelegraph reported that work on introducing the digital ruble to the budget process is being carried out by the Bank of Russia together with the Ministry of Finance.

The digital ruble is issued by the Bank of Russia and is designed to function alongside cash and conventional non-cash rubles as a third form of the national currency. Russia began a wider rollout on September 1, 2026, when major banks and large retailers started offering customers access to digital-ruble transactions. The central bank has said individuals will decide whether to use the currency, with accounts opened on its platform only with the user's consent.

A Lloyds survey of 100 senior executives found 71% expect tokenisation to transform financial services, with faster payments and settlement seen as the main benefit.