The introduction of the digital ruble in the Russian Federation has been postponed indefinitely.
The Bank of Russia has decided to postpone the widespread introduction of the digital ruble, which was planned from July 1, 2025, the head of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina said. The new date will be announced later.
“We will move to the mass introduction of the digital ruble after we have worked out all the details in the pilot and held all the consultations with banks on the economic model that is most attractive for their clients,” Ms. Nabiullina told at the Annual Meeting with the Central Bank’s management, organized by the Association of Banks of Russia.
The Bank of Russia started working on the creation of the digital ruble in 2021. The main provisions of the law setting out the legal norms for the introduction of the digital ruble in Russia came into force on August 1, 2023. At the same time, piloting of the digital ruble on real transactions for individuals and legal entities began.
The new stage of testing transactions with the digital ruble began on September 1, 2024. The total number of participants in the pilot increased from 600 to 9 thousand people, from 22 to 1,200 companies. It was assumed that by July 2025, 13 systemically important credit organizations were to provide customers with digital ruble transactions: Sberbank, VTB, Alfa Bank, T-Bank, Gazprombank, Otkritie Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Rosbank, Rosselkhozbank, Unicredit Bank, Sovcombank, Promsvyazbank and MKB.