Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: Mainfin Bank –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Who was the first in Russia to receive a "digital" salary?
The first recipient of a salary in the new currency was Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets. The parliamentarian noted several features of working with the digital ruble, which he was able to test in practice:
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation account is displayed in the bank's standard app; the account balance and completed transactions—debits and credits—can be viewed. Aksakov paid with the new currency at a cafe, although payments are only accepted at locations that have configured digital rubles. Transferring funds through online banking was also straightforward. The parliamentarian also tried transferring funds to a regular account and then withdrawing them from an ATM—no difficulties were encountered.
"Working with the digital ruble is done through the bank's app—no additional software is required," Aksakov noted.
The head of the Financial Markets Committee decided to personally participate in the experiment in order to independently evaluate the procedure for working with the new currency and demonstrate the mechanism to Russians.
How is the digital ruble experiment going?
The digital ruble is expected to be launched next year, while the Central Bank of Russia continues to experiment and test transactions with Russian citizens and businesses. The pilot is being conducted in several stages:
Testing began in the summer of 2023 with a limited number of participants; by the end of 2024, 9,000 Russians and over 1,000 companies had joined the experiment; by the summer of 2025, over 100,000 transactions had been conducted with the digital currency; the total number of transfers exceeded 63,000, payments – 13,000, and smart contract transactions – 17,000; in September, salaries were credited in digital rubles for the first time; later, some students received scholarships in the new currency.
However, public reaction to the introduction of the digital ruble remains mixed: about half of Russians see no advantages in using the new currency. Citizens believe that using the digital ruble will entail increased risks and increased government oversight.
12:00 07.10.2025
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