Ozon and Wildberries will accept the digital ruble starting September 1. The central bank says all systemically important banks are ready. Smaller retailers have until 2027 to comply.
Russia's two largest online marketplaces, Wildberries and Ozon, will start accepting digital ruble payments from shoppers next month.
The move aligns with Moscow's broader push to roll out its central bank digital currency, or CBDC, and enforce a new crypto law that bans decentralized coins for payments while legalizing investment and trading.
Ozon said it would accept the digital ruble in test mode starting September 1, alongside existing payment methods, and gradually roll the option out to all customers. A spokesperson for Wildberries said the company is acting in line with Bank of Russia requirements and current regulations. Both statements came via the RIA Novosti news agency and the business outlet Prime late Thursday.
The digital ruble has been in development for years, with the first real transactions in 2023. A pilot involving a limited set of banks, businesses, and individual users has been expanding since. The original public launch was set for 2025 but was postponed to give companies more time to prepare.
Under the latest schedule from the Central Bank of Russia, large retailers with annual revenue above 120 million rubles, or roughly $1.5 million, must be ready to accept the digital ruble by September 1, 2026. Russia's biggest commercial banks face the same deadline to process digital ruble transactions for clients. Smaller banks and retailers with revenue over 30 million rubles, about $360,000, get another year. All other providers have until September 1, 2028.
Alla Bakina, director of the CBR's National Payment System Department, said all systemically important banks are ready for widespread implementation. From next month, their customers can open digital ruble wallets within banking apps, she said. The central bank has integrated and activated the feature for online CBDC payments, letting e-commerce platforms offer the new method.
Ozon, founded in 1998 as an online bookstore, now sells a wide range of goods similar to Amazon. Wildberries, launched as a clothing seller in 2004, is Russia's largest online retailer and has expanded into cosmetics, electronics, and home goods. It operates in former Soviet republics including Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Georgia, as well as the United Arab Emirates. Before Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, it also operated in Ukraine and several European countries.
Both platforms connect third-party merchants with millions of retail customers through networks of local warehouses and pickup points. Some of Wildberries' largest Russian warehouses were hit by Ukrainian drone strikes over the company's support for the war effort, according to previous reports.
About a year ago, Wildberries piloted crypto payments in Belarus, Russia's closest ally, which is ahead on regulation. That is unlikely in Russia, where the recently adopted law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" legalizes crypto investment but bans direct payments with decentralized digital money.
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