Russians talked about their expectations of the digital ruble

After the mass introduction of the digital ruble in Russia, the most demanded transactions will be the payment of taxes, duties and fees, as well as the purchase of goods and services. Such data is provided in the study "Digital Ruble through the eyes of Russians", conducted by VTB together with Brand Analytics on the eve of the Finopolis 2025 forum.

Russians aged 18 to 65 years old, living in settlements with a population of more than 100,000 people, took part in the survey as part of the study. In addition, Brand Analytics analyzed about 25 billion public messages in Russian-language social networks and mass media published from January to August 2025.

43% of respondents consider the payment of state duties and taxes to be the most anticipated function of the digital ruble. Government payments are in third place by a small margin (39%). The top five most demanded transactions also included transfers between users (36%) and receiving wages (28%).

More than 40% of respondents said they would use digital rubles on a par with cash and non-cash funds, and one in ten noted that the form of money does not matter to them.

68% of respondents are ready to receive salaries in digital rubles. Another 12% found it difficult to answer, while 20% said they did not want to use digital currency for these purposes.

VTB noted that they are participating in pilot programs to introduce the digital ruble.

"Thanks to these pilots, we see that the most popular transactions among Russians will be those in which the digital ruble will act not just as a means of payment, but will be involved in fundamentally new user scenarios. For example, in combination with the functionality of smart contracts, the user will be able to set up payments without his participation, which will be made upon the occurrence of various conditions," said Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the Board of VTB.

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