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Aerobatics: the authorities will test the payment of subsidies to companies in digital rubles
In Russia, they will test the payment of subsidies to businesses in digital rubles, Izvestia found out. You can set parameters in the system so that support goes only to the purchase of machinery, building materials, or salaries, and does not go to the left. Russia has already started an experiment with supporting farmers in Chuvashia. Moscow may test payments of subsidies to SMEs in digital rubles. The priorities for the development of the third form of money now are its use in the budget process, smart contracts and cross—border transfers, said the head of the Central Bank. The introduction of the digital ruble will make payments more transparent and manageable.
Who will be able to receive payments in digital rubles
Russia will start paying subsidies to commercial organizations in digital rubles. Such a project is already being worked out point-by-point in one region, but larger-scale "pilots" are also being prepared, Izvestia found out.
Real operations using the digital ruble with funds from the federal budget will be available from January 2026, and with money from regional and local budgets from mid-2027, the press service of the Central Bank told Izvestia. They added that the Ministry of Finance will determine the types of payments and the order of launch.
— A number of regional governments are currently working with us to pilot individual budget operations with the digital ruble in a test environment. They choose which budget cases need to be automated for them using digital rubles. We are jointly working on smart contracts that allow us to automate the process," the Bank of Russia clarified.
They noted: This will increase its efficiency by controlling the targeted use of budget funds in necessary cases, reduce document flow, and improve the convenience of the customer journey.
Testing of the digital ruble in the country is gradually gaining momentum — in October, VTB, together with the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance of Chuvashia, launched a real pilot of subsidies to farmers in digital rubles. This was announced on October 9 by the bank's representative at Finopolis 2025. However, this is a rather narrow segment.
Moscow may also test the payment of business support in digital rubles. This possibility will be considered by the middle of 2027, Maria Bagreeva, Deputy Mayor of the capital, head of the Department of Economic Policy and Development of the city, told Izvestia. The government will assess in which direction funds can be spent using the third form of money.
The digital ruble is a new form of national currency. Its issuer will be the Bank of Russia. Digital rubles are exchanged for cash and non-cash in a 1:1 ratio, without any discount. They will not be in an individual's bank account, but in a wallet on the Central Bank's platform.
Today, together with the Bank of Russia, the government of the capital is conducting a pilot project with the Mosinzhproekt construction company, Maria Bagreeva said. It involves testing payments in digital rubles with contractors and subcontractors, pricing analytics in construction, as well as the possibility of using a smart contract tool that allows you to enter additional conditions for transferring money.
The point is that funds can only be allocated to specific suppliers and contractors, and only for the payment of works and services that will be determined by the construction project.
Budget payments, the development of smart contracts and cross-border payments are currently a priority for the introduction of the digital ruble, said Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Bank of Russia. According to her, the function of payments in digital rubles from the budget and to the budget is in demand both at the federal government level and at the regional level.
This is important because the system can set parameters under which money, for example, subsidies to businesses, would go only for specific purposes, explained Valery Tumin, a member of the expert council on the development of the digital economy at the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy. For example, to buy machinery, building materials, or salaries, rather than going to the left. Therefore, the introduction of the digital ruble is especially important in construction and state support of companies, the expert noted.
The number of money laundering cases in Russia has increased by a third: in the first half of 2025, 862 such cases were initiated, half of them on a large and especially large scale (starting from 6 million rubles), according to data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, studied by Izvestia. The number of detected bribes also increased by 20%, to 17 thousand.
In addition, the innovation will significantly save time when receiving support, Valery Tumin added. For example, you won't need to collect confirmation that the money has been spent on targeted expenses.
Subsidies are paid to entrepreneurs to purchase equipment or pay for training programs for employees, Maria Bagreeva explained. With the help of the digital ruble, you can easily administer subsidies and understand that the allocated money is really directed only to those targeted areas that are provided for when subsidies are issued.
Theoretically, the introduction of the digital ruble is also possible in the payment of targeted subsidies to Russians: money for the purchase of medicines, rehabilitation facilities for the disabled. Federal payments, such as maternity capital, are also feasible to transfer to a third form of money, she added.
In September 2025, an experiment on making payments from the federal budget in digital rubles was successfully completed, the press service of the Ministry of Finance told Izvestia. Payments in the new form of the national currency were credited to customer accounts opened on the digital ruble platform (its operator is the Central Bank).
Payments were made in three directions: salary to a person holding a public position; social benefits to students; payment under government contracts for capital construction, repair and maintenance of state-owned facilities. Starting from January 1, the digital ruble will be able to be used without restrictions on federal budget expenditures, the department added.
When will the digital ruble be introduced into mass circulation
The Central Bank planned to introduce the digital ruble into mass circulation from July 1, 2025. However, the date was postponed to next year. According to the new plan, from September 1, 2026, the largest banks will be required to offer digital ruble transactions to customers. Large trading companies (with an annual turnover above 120 million rubles) will have to enable the payment option from the same date.
Most likely, the digital ruble may begin to be introduced into certain areas by the end of 2026, said Yaroslav Kabakov, Director of Strategy at Finam IC. In his opinion, using the third form of the national currency will allow you to track money in real time and make the process more manageable.
— The introduction of the digital ruble is most promising in social benefits, support for small and medium-sized businesses, construction, public procurement, grants and scientific projects. If the system proves reliable and convenient, this form of money will be able to take a prominent place in financial flows by the end of the decade," he predicted.
The prospect of paying subsidies in digital rubles by the middle of 2027 in Moscow is quite realistic — moreover, the process is already underway more actively than many expected, said Valery Tumin. According to him, Moscow may well start using this form of money for payments even earlier — the system will be technically ready.
— The main advantage of the digital ruble for subsidies is the automatic control of the intended use through smart contracts. The system itself checks whether the payment meets the specified conditions, and either executes it instantly or rejects it. This eliminates manual verification, speeds up payments, and makes the process transparent to all parties," he explained.
At the same time, the difficulties in the process of integrating the digital ruble are quite predictable: infrastructure improvements, user-friendly interfaces, legal adaptation, personal data protection and increased user trust will be required, Yaroslav Kabakov added.
In addition, the spread of the digital ruble may threaten banks with an outflow of deposits, follows from the material of experts from the Higher School of Economics, which was reviewed by Izvestia. Initially, for small banks, an increase in the digital ruble by 1 billion could reduce deposits by 0.8 billion rubles on average, and for large banks — by 0.3 billion, experts predicted.
For the successful implementation of the third form of money, ideally, the amount of funds in cash circulation should decrease, said independent expert Andrei Barkhota. Now it is 17 trillion rubles, but if it is possible to reduce this number to 12-13 trillion and part of it will be converted into digital rubles, the project for their implementation can be considered generally successful, he concluded.
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