Russia: Bank of Russia reports initial digital ruble usage results

On 12 October 2026, the Bank of Russia published Deputy Governor Zulfiya Kakhrumanova’s interview on the digital ruble. Reported figures exceeded 220,000 accounts and 150,000 transactions; legal entities opened around 10,000 accounts.

A subscription service is planned for November; smart contracts and automated payments are further development areas. These are plans. Businesses will separately need to assess whether their payment and accounting processes are ready for new settlement scenarios. Usage figures and planned functionality should be considered separately: transaction statistics alone do not demonstrate that every announced service is available.

Source: Bank of Russia, 12 October 2026.

Illustration: AI-generated for this publication.