Key Takeaways
- Alla Bakina confirmed that 12 major banks are ready to offer digital ruble services starting September 1.
- Shifting Russia’s payment market, the digital ruble will deploy across a 9-million-outlet QR network.
- Roman Artyukhin stated the Treasury is ready to expand CBDC utility after processing 35,000 rubles.
Central Bank of Russia: Russian Banks Ready For Digital Ruble Launch
While stablecoins have become one of the most relevant applications of blockchain technology, some countries have continued to develop central bank digital currencies ( CBDCs), maintaining control over the issuance of these digital alternatives.
The Central Bank of Russia has offered an update on the readiness of its digital ruble initiative, which is planned to launch on September 1. According to Alla Bakina, Director of the Bank of Russia’s National Payment System Department, most of the major banks that participated in the nationwide pilot will be ready to offer digital ruble services on that date.
“We’ve been preparing for September 1st for quite some time now, working with the banks, and we’re moving forward with great confidence. All of our major banks, 12 of them, are already ready and connected,” Bakina stated at the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Bakina highlighted that nine other significant banks were already making good progress in connecting their system and completing the work towards a full implementation of the digital ruble. Nonetheless, she acknowledged that at most two banks may not be able to complete the work toward this inclusion. “This is simply because they acquired this status based on our analysis of their activities, based on the results of 2025, and they simply objectively need a little more time,” she concluded.
Recently, Russian officials have been promoting the digital ruble before its launch. Russian Treasury Secretary Roman Artyukhin said that Russians should act like Zoomers and not be afraid of the new currency, stressing the government was ready to receive digital ruble payments.
“The federal infrastructure is fully operational. After all, both individuals and businesses perceive the ruble as a non-cash currency. We’ve received 35,000 rubles. This may be a small step for the digital ruble, but it’s a big step for the ecosystem,” he declared.
Pavel Potanin, Deputy General Director of the National Payment Card System (NSPK), stressed that the digital ruble is already prepared to work with the universal QR payments system, as the law establishes that banks with significant market share should enable this option on that date.
“In terms of market integration, work is proceeding according to plan… I’d like to point out that the universal QR system infrastructure is already ready to work with the digital ruble,” Potanin said.
The universal QR payment system encompasses over 9 million retail outlets and 200 banks.