MOSCOW — Russia's Finance Ministry has paid some employees their wages in digital rubles for the first time, moving the central bank digital currency (CBDC) into government payroll as the country works to expand its use. The step places the government itself in the role of a digital ruble payer, using the currency for a recurring payment obligation rather than a one-off disbursement.

The salary payments began on October 1, 2026, and participation was voluntary, with employees who opted in required to open digital ruble accounts on the Bank of Russia's platform, the Finance Ministry said. The ministry did not disclose the number of employees who received their wages in digital rubles, nor the total value of the payments.

The rollout follows a 2025 pilot in which approximately 16 million digital rubles, worth roughly $192,245 at the time, were used for federal budget spending. The ministry said the infrastructure tested during that exercise was subsequently applied to the salary payments. The Bank of Russia and the Finance Ministry are working together to integrate the digital ruble into Russia's budget system.

The digital ruble is issued by the Bank of Russia and is designed to operate alongside cash and conventional non-cash rubles as a third form of the national currency. The central bank began piloting the currency with a limited group of banks and users in August 2023.

Russia began a broader rollout of the digital ruble on September 1, 2026, when major banks and large retailers started providing customers with access to digital ruble transactions. The Bank of Russia has said individuals will decide whether to use the digital currency, with accounts opened on its platform only with the user's consent. The payroll payments began a month after that consumer rollout, giving the state and the public parallel entry points into the digital ruble system.

The latest move marks a shift from testing the digital ruble in government payments to using it for routine public-sector payroll, adding another use case as Russia seeks to expand adoption of its central bank digital currency. Because the salary program is opt-in and the ministry has not published participation figures, the volume of wages routed through the platform, and whether other government bodies adopt a similar approach, will help show how far usage extends beyond the pilot stage as the integration into the budget system continues.

Source: BitcoinKE