PANews December 31 report, according to Bitcoin.com, Russia plans to mandate banks and large merchants to accept the digital ruble through legislation and promote widespread adoption via a unified QR code payment system. A new bill has been submitted to the State Duma, proposing to gradually promote the digital ruble starting from July 2025, initially covering systemically important banks crucial to the national economy, and expanding to all banks by 2027. At the same time, merchants with annual revenues exceeding 30 million rubles will need to support digital ruble payments by July 2025, with this threshold dropping to 20 million rubles in 2026. Regions without mobile or internet access will be exempt.
The bill also introduces a unified QR code payment system, to be implemented by the National Payment Card System (NSPK), further strengthening the national financial infrastructure. Digital ruble transactions, including payments to merchants, lawyers, notaries, etc., must generally be completed via QR code, unless otherwise stipulated by the digital ruble platform.