Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiulhina has confirmed that the country is ready to introduce its central bank digital currency (CBDC) in two months, in line with the timeline set last year.
According to a report by Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti on Thursday, Nabiullina said that everyone is ready for the launch of the digital ruble on September 1. The CBDC will be launched as a supplement to Russia’s fiat currency, the ruble, and will initially be accepted by financial and credit institutions.
– We want digital laundry to be in demand among citizens and companies, to be practical and, of course, we constantly discuss which functionalities should be developed – said Nabiullina.
The digital currency startup, whose development began in 2021, has already been the target of preventive sanctions by the European Union authorities, which announced restrictions on CBDCs in April. The European Council announced that the package of sanctions is a response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began in February 2022.
According to the first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia Vladimir Chistyukhin, the law enabling the digital ruble will enter into force on September 1, with a transitional period until July 2027.
Dr. Jack Jarmon, who worked as a USAID technical advisor for the Russian government in the 1990s, stated in a February 2025 report that the country could face structural constraints if its plans for a digital ruble fail, and that it is relying on bitcoin and other proof-of-work (PoW) digital currencies as a method of circumventing sanctions, reports Lidermedia.hr.
Unlike Russia, the US is on the verge of banning the issuance or creation of central bank CBDCs by 2030. This week, US President Donald Trump introduced legislation that includes a ban on the digital dollar as part of a package of housing affordability legislation.
Although Trump has said he will not sign the bill, expecting Republicans to first pass legislation requiring voters to provide proof of US citizenship in person to register, it will automatically become law in 10 days without any action by the president. By that deadline, the law would enter into force in July.
