The Bank of Russia has prepared new rules under which cryptocurrency accounting will be used when calculating prudential standards for professional market participants. These indicators help determine whether companies have enough of their own funds and how stable their financial position is.
The draft directive has already been submitted for regulatory impact assessment. The new requirements will affect:
- Brokers
- Management companies
- Forex dealers
- Crypto exchanges
For Russia, this is an important step toward ensuring that cryptocurrency is taken into account in supervisory calculations not as an abstract instrument, but as an asset carrying specific market and credit risks.
Which Digital Assets Will Be Allowed for Accounting
When determining the amount of own funds, professional participants will be able to include not just any digital currencies in the calculation. The Bank of Russia proposes to consider only a limited range of such assets:
- Cryptocurrencies admitted to trading on exchanges
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
The share of such assets will be limited: digital currencies must not exceed 25% of the value of assets accepted for calculation. In addition, the cryptocurrency that the company intends to include in this limit must be accounted for in crypto depositories.
For a legal entity, this means a stricter approach to confirming rights to digital instruments. Such an asset cannot simply be declared as part of capital in accounting without a clear storage and accounting infrastructure.
How This Relates to Capital and Risks
The document describes in which cases digital currencies can be considered when assessing credit and market risk in the capital adequacy standard. This indicator shows whether a market participant has enough funds to cover possible losses and continue operating in an unfavorable situation.
Essentially, the regulator proposes to integrate digital instruments into the financial stability control system. This is important for both accounting and financial reporting: if an asset affects capital, its value, risks, and limitations must be clear to both the company itself and supervisory authorities.
Transparent cryptocurrency accounting helps to see in advance how digital assets affect a company’s capital, risks, and stability.
In international practice, similar issues are considered through the lens of international financial reporting standards. Digital currency, blockchain tokens, and other instruments require careful assessment because their price can change quickly, and the legal regime depends on the specific jurisdiction.
What Matters for Accounting and Tax Reporting
For organizations and sole proprietors working with cryptocurrency, it is important to record transactions in a way that makes it clear when the asset appeared, how its value changed, and what income arose upon disposal. This applies to buying, selling, exchanging, mining, and other operations with digital currencies.
In accounting, cryptocurrency can be treated differently depending on its role in the business: as inventory if the asset is intended for sale, or as an intangible asset if it is used otherwise. The choice of classification should be linked to the economic substance of the transaction and reflected consistently.
For tax accounting, income from cryptocurrency transactions requires calculation and payment of tax. Taxable operations include sale, exchange, mining, and other cases of receiving income from digital assets. To calculate tax, it is important to collect supporting documents, determine income, and reflect it in tax reporting.
Failure to pay tax on cryptocurrency income may result in tax sanctions, including fines and penalties. Therefore, automating accounting becomes a practical task: programs and services help collect transactions, calculate financial results, and prepare data for reporting.
Earning on cryptocurrency is related not only to the income itself but also to accounting for that income. If a digital asset generates profit, it affects both accounting and tax records and must be reflected in reporting.
Which Regulations Shape Oversight
For market participants, the key guidelines are the federal law of the Russian Federation on the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Russia from September 1, as well as the draft directive of the Bank of Russia on the inclusion of digital currencies in the calculation of prudential standards. These regulations set the framework for circulation, accounting, risk control, and reporting on cryptocurrency transactions.
Why New Restrictions Are Needed
The proposed approach should take into account the risks associated with digital currency transactions in advance. If a company works with such assets, it is important for the regulator to understand whether this creates a threat to its capital and clients.
The 25% limit reduces the likelihood that a professional participant’s funds will become overly dependent on the volatile crypto market. At the same time, the rules set clear boundaries for intermediaries involved in digital asset transactions.
The context for these changes has been the development of cryptocurrency market regulation. Previously, the federal law of the Russian Federation on the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Russia from September 1 was signed. Against this background, issues of accounting, capital, tax, and reporting are becoming increasingly practical for market participants.
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