RUSSIA MADE ITS DIGITAL RUBLE MANDATORY FOR THE BIG STORES — PAYING IN BITCOIN IS STILL ILLEGAL FOR ORDINARY RUSSIANS — ONE MONEY YOU MUST ACCEPT, ONE YOU MAY NOT SPEND

The Bank of Russia’s own release lays out the schedule. Large-scale use of the digital ruble started on September 1, 2026. Major banks had to offer it first. Retailers banking with those majors, with revenue over 120 million rubles last year, are required to accept it from the same date. Banks with universal licenses and shops over 30 million rubles follow on September 1, 2027, everyone else on September 1, 2028, and shops under 5 million rubles are excused. Every bank had to support the shared QR code by this month. For individuals, the payments are free.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin sold it as “convenient, fast, and independent” infrastructure and said that “the circulation of cryptocurrencies has also become legal in the country starting from September 1.” Read the word circulation. Paying for anything in bitcoin has been illegal in Russia since 2022, and that has not changed. Ordinary Russians can hold and trade inside limits, and only registered firms may run an exchange.

So the state’s money is free to use, mandatory to accept, and visible to the people who issue it. The money the state cannot see is barred from the checkout. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov admitted back in 2024 that Russian companies use bitcoin to settle international trade around sanctions. The rule is not that bitcoin does not work. The rule is who gets to use the money that works.

A currency you are required to accept is not competing with anything. It is being installed. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $86,232.