Opening of the Assignation Bank — Russia's first paper money

In November 1769, the Assignation Bank opened branches in St Petersburg and Moscow, marking the introduction of Russia's first government-issued paper currency, known as assignatsii. Established under Catherine the Great following a decree in 1768, the bank was created to address a chronic shortage of circulating coinage and to help finance the escalating costs of Russia's war against the Ottoman Empire.

Before this reform, Russia's economy relied heavily on cumbersome copper and silver coinage, which was impractical for large transactions and long-distance trade across the vast empire. The introduction of paper banknotes represented a major modernization of Russian financial infrastructure, aligning the empire more closely with financial innovations already underway in Western Europe, such as in Britain and France.

While the assignation ruble would later suffer from overissue and depreciation, particularly during the costly wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, its initial introduction under Catherine was a genuinely pioneering step in Russian economic history. It reflects Catherine's broader project of modernizing state institutions along Enlightenment and European lines, alongside her legal, educational, and administrative reforms. The Assignation Bank operated until 1843, when Russia's paper currency system was overhauled, but its 1769 founding remains a landmark moment in the country's financial history.