The State Duma passed a law in the third reading that should bring the cryptocurrency market in Russia out of the gray zone and set clear rules for the circulation of digital currencies. The document was supported by 340 deputies, with five parliamentarians abstaining.
Cryptocurrency Gets a Legal Framework
The head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov, called the adopted law historic. According to him, the turnover of this instrument may exceed 10 trillion rubles, but a significant part of operations has so far remained outside full regulation.
In a certain sense, this is a historic law. There is data that the turnover of this instrument exceeds 10 trillion rubles, but it is practically not regulated. A special regime exists, but its volume is incomparable with what happens illegally. This bill is precisely what brings order to such a market.
Aksakov emphasized that the law opens up the possibility to legally handle digital assets in Russian jurisdiction and earn from such operations. For individuals, this does not look like a ban on owning digital currency itself: the key restriction is on its use as a means of payment within the country. Storage and transfer of cryptocurrency must fit within the permitted legal framework and go through approved infrastructure when it comes to operations in the legal market.
According to the deputy, the new rules may help attract investment into the Russian economy. He noted that some foreign investors are now cautious about directly investing in projects in Russia, and digital financial assets and cryptocurrency may become an additional channel for them. In this format, gold, other metals, and projects related to the development of this area of the economy may be of interest.
Which Participants Will Be Able to Operate in the Market
The law forms the infrastructure of a legal crypto market. The circulation of digital currencies can only be ensured by specialized participants:
- Organizers of trading on organized markets.
- Brokers acting on behalf of clients.
- Managers within the framework of trust management.
- Organizations for the exchange of digital currencies.
A separate role is assigned to digital depositories: they will be responsible for the accounting and storage of digital currencies. To operate within the legal framework, a participant must meet admission requirements. For exchangers, a property threshold is directly set: only a Russian business entity with at least 15 million rubles in its own funds can become such a participant. The exchanger must also be included in the register maintained by the Bank of Russia, although until July 1, 2027, it is allowed to operate without being included in this list.
In practice, regulation is built around the Bank of Russia: it maintains the register, sets the criteria for admitting instruments to trading, and controls who can work with digital currency in the legal framework. For the market, this is an important filter: digital currency ceases to be a completely informal instrument, and operations with it receive clear admission rules and go through participants who can be checked against established requirements.
What Will Remain Prohibited
Within Russia, it will not be possible to pay for goods, works, and services with cryptocurrency. The law also prohibits advertising such payments. Exceptions are provided for:
- Settlements under foreign trade contracts between residents and non-residents.
- Mining rewards.
- Payment of network fees.
- Purchase of securities.
- Purchase of other digital currencies.
- Purchase of digital rights.
In practice, this means that it is not possible to pay with cryptocurrency for goods or services within Russia, even if the transaction takes place between individuals. Outside of a foreign trade contract, cryptocurrency does not become a means of payment: for example, you cannot pay a seller in Russia with it, but you can use it in the permitted framework for foreign trade settlements, network fees, or the purchase of other digital currencies and digital rights.
Mining in this logic remains part of the permitted framework: the reward for it is directly included in the list of exceptions. The same applies to network fees, without which blockchain infrastructure does not work. Currency in digital form does not become an ordinary means of payment within the country.
Only those cryptocurrencies that meet the criteria of the Bank of Russia will be allowed for public exchange trading. Two key requirements are set for such instruments:
- Average capitalization — more than 5 trillion rubles.
- Average daily trading volume over two years — more than 1 trillion rubles.
Why the Law Has Critics
Deputy Andrey Lugovoy stated that Russia is about five years late with such regulation, and the law itself still needs refinement. His main complaint is related to non-residents from unfriendly countries.
Serious concerns are raised by the right of non-residents from unfriendly countries to legally purchase digital currency without limits and freely withdraw it abroad, including to crypto wallets of foreign exchanges and non-custodial wallets. At the same time, such non-residents are subject to restrictions on the transfer of funds.
In essence, a digital operation turns out to be in a separate framework: this is not a classic bank transaction, but the issue of cross-border withdrawal of funds remains sensitive. This is the risk that Lugovoy proposed to take into account when further refining the rules.
The new rules also integrate cryptocurrency into a broader financial accounting system. For businesses, the digital instrument can be considered not only as a means of settlement in the foreign market but also as an asset in accounting if operations with it are carried out in the permitted legal regime.
Amid global interest in digital currencies, Russia seeks to establish its own rules of the game. This approach is also important for investors from major jurisdictions, including the United States of America and China, as the law sets a clear procedure for admission, exchange, storage, and circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian market.
