Moscow Metro is to pilot the use of Russia’s digital ruble for fare payments as part of the Central Bank of Russia’s real-world testing programme for the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The first phase of the pilot will enable a closed focus group of Metro employees to pay for fares either directly from a digital ruble wallet or by purchasing a Troika transit card with the digital currency.

Moscow Metro is implementing the pilot with the support of the Central Bank of Russia and VTB Bank and says that “based on the results of the pilot project, we will work out the possibility of introducing the digital ruble on other types of urban transport”.

Russia adopted a law that enabled the real-world testing of the digital ruble earlier this month.

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