Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed legislation creating a regulated route for retail and qualified investors to trade cryptocurrencies in Russia through approved intermediaries.
The main provisions of the law will come into force on 1 September 2026, according to TASS and the Bank of Russia.
The legislation establishes rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, digital depositories, brokers, management companies, trading venues and clearing houses. It also covers mining, custody, accounting and foreign digital instruments.
However, cryptocurrency will not become legal tender for everyday domestic purchases. Russia will continue to prohibit the use of digital currency to pay for goods, services, information and intellectual property inside the country. Advertising cryptocurrency as a domestic payment method will also remain illegal.
Under the new framework, non-qualified investors will be allowed to buy only cryptocurrencies that regulators classify as the “most liquid”. They will have to complete a suitability test and will be limited to purchases worth 300,000 rubles a year through each intermediary.
Authorities have not yet published the final list of cryptocurrencies that will be available to retail investors.
Qualified investors will also have to pass testing, but will be able to buy and sell any cryptocurrency without a financial limit. Individuals may be able to obtain qualified status partly on the basis of their previous cryptocurrency transaction history, TASS reported.
The Bank of Russia must still issue more detailed standards before intermediaries can apply the requirements consistently.
The law follows the framework developed by Russian lawmakers earlier in 2026. The bill’s first reading included regulated intermediaries, compulsory investor testing and the annual 300,000-ruble limit for non-qualified investors.
A later version dropped a proposed requirement for investors to disclose their cryptocurrency wallet addresses. The revised measure retained the purchase ceiling and introduced controls on transfers and investments funded with cryptocurrency.
Rules for exchanges
Cryptocurrency exchange providers will have to enter a “special registry”, hold at least 15 million rubles in equity and join a financial-market self-regulatory organisation.
The legislation defines systematic exchange activity as carrying out at least two transactions in a single month with a combined value above 3.5 million rubles.
Existing cryptocurrency exchange providers will be allowed to continue operating without registration until 1 July 2027. That deadline is different from the 1 March 2027 transition period granted to existing digital financial asset exchange operators, which are treated as a separate category under the broader system.
Banks and Russian branches of foreign banks will be required to block transfers when they suspect that an unauthorised digital currency exchange provider is involved.
The law also gives digital currency holders judicial protection, including in cases where the assets had not previously been declared.
The Bank of Russia has already begun preparing the regulations needed for the market to function. Proposals published on 27 July cover organised trading, methods of setting prices, asset records and digital depositories.
The proposed minimum equity requirement for digital depositories ranges from 50 million to 250 million rubles, depending on the services they provide. Those requirements are separate from the 15 million-ruble minimum for exchange providers.
Cryptocurrency and foreign trade
Although crypto payments will remain prohibited for ordinary domestic transactions, the law allows cryptocurrency to be used for settlements under foreign trade contracts between Russian residents and non-residents.
Other exceptions cover certain transactions involving mined cryptocurrency, securities, other digital currencies, digital rights and fees payable through approved information systems.
The Bank of Russia said exporters and importers would be able to use cryptocurrency for cross-border payments without transaction-value limits. Payments could be handled through intermediaries or made directly using wallets.
Russian residents will nevertheless have to report certain overseas cryptocurrency holdings to tax authorities.
The foreign-trade provisions also create potential compliance issues for companies dealing with jurisdictions that impose sanctions on Russia. The U.S. Treasury says its sanctions apply to virtual currency in the same way as they apply to fiat-currency transactions.
U.S. exchanges, wallet providers and other people or organisations remain prohibited from facilitating transactions involving sanctioned Russian parties.
The Treasury has previously sanctioned the Moscow-linked exchanges Garantex and Grinex, as well as companies associated with the A7 cross-border settlement network. It said the network helped evade sanctions and used the ruble-backed A7A5 token to move customer balances.
Russian businesses have increasingly examined cryptocurrency for foreign trade as sanctions have restricted access to conventional international payment channels. The new domestic law may authorise such transactions in Russia, but it cannot override sanctions or compliance duties imposed by other countries.
Implementation timetable
The main framework will begin on 1 September 2026. Before then, the Bank of Russia must finalise rules on cryptocurrencies eligible for retail trading, investor testing, organised trading, exchange supervision and digital depository operations.
Some provisions will take effect later. Measures concerning certain transfer restrictions and non-resident digital depositories are due to start on 1 July 2027.
Technical rules covering digital financial assets, nominal holders and depositories will come into force on 1 September 2027.
Russia is also moving to tighten controls in other parts of the cryptocurrency sector. Officials have advanced longer-term restrictions on mining in Moscow, the surrounding region and parts of Kursk. Those measures relate to electricity consumption and mining oversight rather than access to retail cryptocurrency trading.
The immediate test will be whether intermediaries can secure approval and launch products that comply with the new rules on schedule. Retail access is likely to remain limited until regulators identify the qualifying cryptocurrencies, establish the necessary registries and complete the suitability tests.
