Nabiullina says Russia's digital ruble passes 270,000 accounts since launch

Key points

• Elvira Nabiullina says 270,000 digital ruble accounts are open, 15,000 held by legal entities and the rest by individual entrepreneurs
• 87,000 users had opened accounts by 11 September, according to the governor
• A subscription service is due by the end of November, with offline payment tests planned for next year

Russia's digital ruble has reached 270,000 accounts since its nationwide launch on 1 September, according to Elvira Nabiullina, Governor of the Central Bank of Russia. Speaking at a press conference after a board meeting on monetary policy, she said interest had been far stronger than the central bank had anticipated.

Nabiullina said 15,000 of the digital ruble accounts belong to legal entities, with the remainder held by individual entrepreneurs. She pointed to small and medium businesses as a particularly keen source of demand. The figure marks a sharp rise from the 87,000 accounts she said had been opened by 11 September, after a pilot programme that ran for more than three years.

The central bank is working with banks and businesses on services built on the platform. Nabiullina said a subscription service would launch towards the end of November, with offline payment tests and further business services planned for next year.

State institutions are also moving to support take-up. The Ministry of Finance is letting its employees receive wages in digital rubles, an option it says is open to all Russian citizens.

What to watch: A digital ruble subscription service is due to launch towards the end of November, with offline payment tests planned for next year.

Read the full story on Bitcoin.com News →