Digital Ruble: 87,000 Accounts in the First 10 Days of the Mass Rollout

In brief: In the first ten days after the mass rollout of the digital ruble, Russian residents opened 87,000 accounts and carried out more than 50,000 transactions. Bank of Russia (the central bank) Governor Elvira Nabiullina announced this on 11 September 2026 at the press conference following the Board of Directors meeting: "In my view, we got off to a normal start" (translated from Russian). Mass circulation of the third form of the national currency began on 1 September 2026; before that, the project had spent three years in the pilot stage.

First results: what the numbers show

87,000 accounts in ten days is a modest but expected start. By the regulator's estimate, a significant share of users are still testing the service, checking how a wallet is opened and how a payment goes through. The number of accounts is growing daily.

What else the Bank of Russia reported:

• in the first days some customers ran into difficulties opening accounts and making transactions, but banks resolved them promptly;
• the regulator is not recording mass complaints or systemic failures;
• the Bank of Russia does not keep regional statistics, as the platform is a single one for all regions of the country.

Nabiullina separately outlined the economic rationale of the project: "The digital ruble will allow businesses to reduce their costs, including acquiring costs" (translated from Russian).

Which banks are required to work with the digital ruble

Onboarding is happening in waves:

Stage	Who connects
September 2026	Systemically important banks: Sber, VTB, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, T-Bank, Post Bank and other major lenders
September 2027	Banks with a universal license
September 2028	All other credit institutions

So if your bank is a small one, it may not offer a wallet for another year or two; that is normal and in line with the schedule.

Which businesses are required to accept the digital ruble

The obligation is tied to a company's annual revenue and is introduced in three thresholds:

• from 1 September 2026: revenue above RUB 120 million;
• from 2027: above RUB 30 million;
• from 2028: above RUB 20 million.

Exceptions are spelled out separately: companies with annual revenue below RUB 5 million, as well as retail outlets without internet access, are fully exempt from the obligation.

This leads to a nuance that usually gets lost in retellings: businesses with annual revenue between RUB 5 million and RUB 20 million do not fall under any of the three thresholds. The current schedule does not extend the obligation to them; such companies can connect to the platform voluntarily if they see a benefit in the absence of acquiring fees, but they will not be forced to. Only those with revenue above RUB 20 million fall under mandatory connection by 2028.

For those covered by the obligation, refusing to accept the digital ruble is treated the same as refusing any ruble payment and carries penalties.

Major chains are already in the system: Magnit, Lenta and Perekrestok accept payment via the universal QR code, as do the marketplaces Ozon and Wildberries.

Limits and fees: what you need to know

For individuals:

• a wallet can be topped up from a bank account by a maximum of RUB 300,000 per month;
• all transactions for individuals are free;
• no interest is paid on the digital wallet balance, and there is no cashback.

For businesses:

Transaction type	Fee
2026	Free (grace period)
From 2027, accepting payments	0.3%, capped at RUB 1,500
Utility payments	0.2%, capped at RUB 10
Transfers between legal entities	RUB 15 per transaction

For comparison, standard merchant acquiring costs businesses 1.5–2.5% of the transaction amount. That difference is the core of the Bank of Russia's argument.

Salaries and benefits in digital rubles

The government has approved a list of budget expenditures for which the digital ruble may be used, including salaries for public-sector employees and social benefits. The full transfer of budget payments to the new infrastructure is planned to be completed by July 2027.

The key point, and the one surrounded by the most rumors: for individuals, participation is voluntary. To receive payments in digital rubles, a person must open a wallet and submit an application themselves. No automatic conversion of salaries and pensions into digital form is envisaged.

What does not work yet

Objective limitations as of mid-September 2026:

• iPhone. Owners of iOS devices still cannot open a wallet; the issue remains unresolved.
• Low volumes. As of July 2026, the system held around RUB 25 million, which is a statistical rounding error against the country's retail turnover.
• No incentives for users. No interest on balances, no cashback, no bonus programs. For now the main reason to open a wallet is curiosity.
• No full offline mode. The promised payments without internet access remain a task for later stages.

How the digital ruble differs from non-cash rubles

The key difference is the issuer and where the money is held. Non-cash rubles are liabilities of a commercial bank; they sit on its balance sheet and are covered by DIA deposit insurance up to the limit. The digital ruble is a direct liability of the Bank of Russia: the account is opened on the central bank's platform, and the bank serves only as an interface. That is why DIA insurance is not needed here; the funds are already on the regulator's balance sheet.

The second difference is technical: each digital ruble has a unique identifier, which in theory makes it possible to track the targeted use of budget funds.

For how the digital ruble decisions fit into the regulator's broader policy, see Bank of Russia Holds Key Rate at 14%.

Sources

• Vedomosti: Nabiullina on 87,000 digital ruble accounts
• Interfax: number of digital ruble accounts up by 87,000
• Finance Mail: Bank of Russia names number of Russians who started using the digital ruble
• Izvestia: 87,000 digital ruble accounts opened in 10 days
• RB.RU: the digital ruble — stages, limits and fees
• Klerk: the digital ruble from 1 September 2026 — what works in practice