Russia’s Duma passed a law on Tuesday regulating cryptocurrency trading and digital rights for the first time, a framework that sets rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, digital depositories and investors while opening a state-supervised channel for cross-border trade.
Lawmakers approved Bill No. 1194918-8, “relating to digital currency and digital rights,” in its second and third readings, the final stage in the Council, According to To the semi-official Russian news agency TASS.
The measure heads to the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin for signature, a process that is expected to take another two weeks before the law comes into effect. It caps a A sweeping regulatory push Which moved through Parliament over the course of the year.
Legalization or taxation?
The law does not convert bitcoin into money that a Russian can spend in a store. The ruble remains the only legal tender for goods and services within Russia, the ban on cryptocurrency payments remains in place, and the ban on advertising promoting such use remains in place.
What the law does is Giving crypto a legal identity And a set of gates. It recognizes digital assets as property, licenses companies that deal with them, allows investors to purchase within specific limits, and allows the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade.
In plain terms, Russia is not liberalizing cryptocurrencies for everyday life; It brings cryptocurrencies within the state fence, where the government can monitor them, tax them and direct them toward the uses it wants.
Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Duma Committee on Financial Markets, said that the bill “aims to create legal conditions for the operation of cryptocurrencies in our country,” and that lawmakers have studied “to the utmost” the industry’s reactions.
Starting from September 1, 2026, the Bank of Russia will license five categories of participants – exchanges, brokers, management companies, depositories and exchangers – the backbone of the new market.
Companies on a special registry may operate stock exchange activity, with a grace period until July 1, 2027, before this requirement is triggered. Such companies must have a capital of at least 15 million rubles, or about $190,000, and must join a self-regulatory body.
The law defines exchange activity as the systematic buying and selling of cryptocurrencies for one’s own account outside of regulated trading, defining two or more transactions per month in excess of 3.5 million rubles.
Channel for prohibited trade
The commercial heart of the law lies in the cross-border exception. This framework legitimizes what gray market networks did in the shadows: settling foreign trade in cryptocurrencies, outside the dollar and euro banking system targeted by Western sanctions. It delivers the practice with the seal of the Bank of Russia.
The same function was run through places like Garantex, which was shut down by US law enforcement in March 2025, and through the ruble-pegged A7A5 stablecoin, the token that moved tens of billions of sanctions-related flows made by the UK. Mentioned in the sanctions round.
Crypto hub in Russia
Moscow has Cryptocurrency trading was offered as a way around sanctions For years; The new law builds it into the official infrastructure.
The turn is sharp. In January 2022, weeks before the invasion of Ukraine, the Bank of Russia I suggest a complete ban on cryptocurrency transactions and mining, describing digital assets as a threat to financial stability.
This position remained in place throughout the time it took Western governments to separate Russian banks from SWIFT, a move that made trading in dollars and euros a more difficult task. This was followed by four years of infighting between the Ministry of Finance, which wanted to legalize cryptocurrencies, and the Central Bank, which wanted to ban them.
Putin signed a pilot law in August 2024 allowing international cryptocurrency mining and payments; Tuesday’s bill is the permanent framework that replaces the trial.
Law rules for investors and coins
For investors, the law divides the market into two parts. Unqualified retail buyers can buy up to 300,000 rubles of cryptocurrency, roughly $3,800, through a single licensed broker each year, and can send up to 100,000 rubles abroad.
Eligible investors face higher ceilings – up to 3 million rubles for purchases and 1 million rubles for foreign transfers. Both groups must pass a risk awareness test, and qualifying status can depend in part on previous experience with cryptocurrencies. Tax treatment is set to follow securities rules, with rates rising with the arrival of implementing regulations. The step-by-step design follows the previous steps Opening access to Bitcoin for retail buyers.
The law relies on monitoring rather than exposing each wallet. The drafters dropped a previous plan to require holders to disclose individual wallet addresses; Reports will focus on transaction volume and account balances.
Large transfers to foreign or third-party accounts face a 48-hour suspension, a window for authorities to review the funds before they are liquidated.
Assets that exceed strict thresholds can be traded on regulated venues — an average market capitalization of more than 5 trillion rubles over two years and an average daily volume of more than 1 trillion rubles — limits that are expected to limit early trading on bitcoin and ether, with Solana potentially trading a third. Privacy coins that hide transaction data remain banned.
The key provisions come into effect on 1 September 2026, with a transition period for existing operators extending until 1 March 2027.
The clip marks another step in a series of Russian cryptocurrency moves, starting with an attempt to create digital assets Part of “Everyday Finance” To A Crackdown on unregistered mining Which carries with it the threat of forced labor.
