Russia's two leading online marketplaces, Wildberries and Ozon, will begin accepting digital ruble payments in the coming weeks, as Moscow prepares to enforce a new cryptocurrency law and start introducing its state-issued digital currency from September.

Russian e-commerce giants to support payments in digital rubles

Wildberries and Ozon, the top two platforms dominating internet retailing in Russia, will soon let millions of shoppers pay with the country's central bank digital currency (CBDC). The marketplaces, known throughout the post-Soviet space, plan to introduce payments in the digital ruble on the 1st of next month.

Representatives of the two companies announced their intentions to the RIA Novosti news agency. Quoted by the business news outlet Prime late on Thursday, an Ozon representative said:

“Starting September 1, Ozon will accept the digital ruble in a test mode along with other payment methods and will gradually expand this option to all customers.”

A spokesperson for Wildberries did not mention a testing period, stating only that the company “is acting in accordance with the requirements of the Bank of Russia and current regulations.”

Russia's digital ruble system has been under development for several years, with the first trials involving actual transactions commencing in 2023. A pilot project, initiated with a limited number of participating banks, businesses and individual users, has been expanding since last year.

The original plan was to open the platform for public use in 2025, but the launch was postponed to give companies and financial institutions more time to prepare. Under the latest schedule, adopted by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) last summer, the CBDC will be introduced in several stages beginning this fall.

Large retail chains with annual revenues exceeding 120 million rubles (nearly $1.5 million) must be ready to accept digital rubles by September 1, 2026. From the same date, Russia's biggest commercial banks must be able to process digital ruble transactions for their clients. Smaller banks and retailers — those with annual revenue over 30 million rubles (around $360,000) — will have another year to comply. The grace period is even longer for all other banking services providers and businesses, whose deadline to adjust is September 1, 2028.

The digital ruble is the third incarnation of Russia's national currency, after cash and electronic bank money, and will be universally accepted as legal tender. Alla Bakina, director of the CBR's National Payment System Department, emphasized that all systemically important banks are ready for its widespread implementation. From next month, their customers will be able to open digital ruble wallets within their banking apps at the click of a button, the central bank executive assured.

The monetary authority has integrated and activated the feature for online CBDC payments, allowing e-commerce platforms to offer the new payment method.

Russia is among the more advanced of the many governments working on sovereign digital money. The Atlantic Council's CBDC tracker counts more than 130 countries and currency unions exploring the technology, with China's digital yuan in large-scale pilots and the euro area still in the preparation phase for a possible digital euro. Like other CBDCs, the digital ruble is a direct liability of the central bank, which distinguishes it from decentralized cryptocurrencies, and the Bank of Russia has said the currency is also designed to support offline payments usable without internet access.

Crypto payments not an option under Russia's digital currency law

Ozon, known as the “Amazon of Russia,” started in 1998 as an online bookstore but now sells a great variety of goods, just like the American e-commerce and tech behemoth. Wildberries, launched as a clothing seller in 2004, is currently the largest online retailer in Russia, having expanded into multiple other categories such as cosmetics, electronics and home goods.

Wildberries also has a significant presence in other markets in the region, including most former Soviet republics such as Armenia, Kazakhstan and Georgia, as well as the United Arab Emirates. Before Moscow's military invasion in early 2022, it also operated in Ukraine and a number of other nations in Eastern and Western Europe, and beyond.

Both marketplaces connect third-party merchants with millions of retail customers and rely on extensive networks of local warehouses and pickup points. Some of Wildberries' biggest warehouses in the Russian Federation were recently targeted in Ukrainian drone strikes over the company's support for its war effort.

About a year ago, the retailer announced it was piloting crypto payments in Belarus, Russia's closest political and economic ally, which is well ahead in terms of regulation. Such a step is unlikely to happen in the Russian market, where the recently adopted law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights” legalizes crypto investment and trading but permanently bans direct payments with decentralized digital money.