PANews reported on December 31 that according to Bitcoin.com, Russia plans to force banks and large merchants to accept digital rubles through legislation and promote widespread adoption through a unified QR code payment system. The new bill has been submitted to the State Duma, proposing to promote the digital ruble in stages from July 2025, first covering systemic banks that are critical to the national economy, and expanding to all banks by 2027. At the same time, merchants with annual revenue of more than 30 million rubles must support digital ruble payments by July 2025, and the threshold will be reduced to 20 million rubles in 2026. Areas without mobile or Internet access are exempt.
The bill also introduces a unified QR code payment system, which will be implemented by the National Payment Card System (NSPK) to further strengthen the country's financial infrastructure. Digital ruble transactions, including payments to merchants, lawyers, notaries, etc., must in principle be completed through QR codes, unless otherwise specified by the digital ruble platform.
