Russian legislators are not ready to enshrine the digital ruble in the Budget Code on a permanent basis. The State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes has proposed allowing the government to conduct operations with reserve fund funds in digital rubles only during 2027 — instead of a perpetual norm.

The corresponding draft law No. 616-9 with amendments to the Budget Code was submitted to the State Duma on September 30 as part of the budget package — a set of documents considered together with the draft federal budget.

Initially, one of the amendments gave the cabinet of ministers the right to conduct operations with its reserve fund funds in digital rubles without a time limit. The government's reserve fund is part of the federal budget from which unforeseen expenses are financed. Since the norms of the Budget Code apply permanently until they are amended, the government would have received such a right indefinitely.

Why the deputies proposed waiting

In its opinion on the draft law, the Committee on Budget and Taxes proposed moving this norm to another document from the same package — draft law No. 619-9. It describes the execution of budgets at all levels in 2027 and has a limited duration.

The deputies explained this by the fact that the practice of using the digital ruble still needs to be assessed. Universal approaches to its use in the budget process have not yet been developed.

If the State Duma agrees with the committee, the government will be able to use the digital ruble in operations with the reserve fund only during 2027. The question of a permanent norm will remain open.

What awaits the digital ruble in 2027

Legislators are not the only ones showing caution regarding the new form of money. The Bank of Russia is gradually introducing services on the digital ruble platform and is doing so deliberately, as stated by the regulator's head Elvira Nabiullina at a press conference on October 23.

By the end of November, a subscription service will launch on the platform. In 2027, the Central Bank will test offline payments — payment without an internet connection — and will launch several services for businesses. This is the same year that the deputies proposed to limit the reserve fund norm to.

Demand for the digital ruble turned out to be higher than the regulator's expectations, although the expectations themselves, as Nabiullina admitted, were modest. The platform has already gained its first participants:

  • users have opened 270,000 accounts, of which 15,000 belong to legal entities and individual entrepreneurs;
  • 36 banks have connected to the platform, 21 of them as required by law, and another 15 voluntarily.

However, according to a VTB survey, 35% of wallet holders did not go beyond opening an account, and 42% opened one out of curiosity.

In parallel, the digital ruble is being prepared for foreign trade. The State Duma adopted in the first reading draft law No. 1236943-8, which will allow companies to settle with foreign partners in digital rubles. Who will have access to this and in which cases will be decided by the Bank of Russia's board of directors. Amendments for the second reading are being accepted until November 18, and the law will enter into force 180 days after publication.

Cryptalist analysis: Limiting the reserve fund norm to a one-year horizon signals persistent institutional conservatism regarding the digital ruble: the regulator and legislators are synchronously testing the mechanism without taking on long-term obligations. For the market, this means that the full integration of the digital ruble into the budget and foreign trade contour will remain phased, and key scaling decisions will be tied to the results of the 2027 pilots.