The Bank of Russia has announced plans to conduct a large-scale audit of all cryptocurrency assets and transactions in the country at the beginning of 2026.
The regulator plans a comprehensive review of the volume of crypto investments and loans among companies operating in this sector.
An audit of crypto investments is being prepared in Russia
The Bank of Russia stated that as part of the audit, private investments in products whose income depends on cryptocurrency exchange rate fluctuations will also be checked. First of all, these are derivatives and similar instruments, which over the past year have begun to actively appear on the Moscow Exchange and other trading platforms in the country.
The regulator wants to understand how much such schemes are already affecting the domestic market. The audit will start in January 2026 and will take two months. During this time, the Central Bank intends to collect data on how much money licensed companies have invested in crypto — including as part of price risk insurance.
The Bank of Russia demands reports on crypto derivatives, disputes with the Ministry of Finance continue
The Bank of Russia has required the Moscow Exchange and banks working with crypto derivatives to report monthly on transaction volumes and types of operations.
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This is part of a long-standing standoff between the regulator and the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry insists on the legalization and taxation of cryptocurrencies in order to bring the market out of the gray zone.
Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. Source: Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation
The Central Bank, on the contrary, is in no hurry to allow digital assets into the financial system and wants to keep them on the periphery. Nevertheless, as Kirill Karpov from MSAL explained, the collected data will most likely become the basis for future rules:
“The bank and the government will use the audit results when forming policy. The market will most likely be legalized — to collect taxes.”
Lawyer Olga Zakharova adds:
“Currently, only miners and participants in the Central Bank’s sandbox are in the legal field.”
This refers to a pilot project where companies were allowed to use crypto for foreign trade settlements. The Central Bank gave its consent to this out of necessity — against the backdrop of sanctions pressure from the US, EU, and UK.
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In addition to the sandbox, several Russian companies, according to sources, are already using cryptocurrency directly for settlements with foreign partners.
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One expert said that the Central Bank understands that in the coming years it will need more data about the crypto industry:
“Currently, the share of the crypto market is about 2% of all global financial assets. For now, this does not pose a serious threat to Russia’s economy, but the situation needs to be kept under constant control.”
Despite the Central Bank’s tough stance, there are plenty of lobbyists in Moscow promoting crypto. Some politicians openly demand not to delay the regulation of exchanges and seriously propose creating a state reserve in bitcoin.
