Russia’s State Duma passed a bill Tuesday that gives the country its first full legal framework for cryptocurrency, treating digital assets as property while keeping them out of everyday payments.
Key Takeaways
Non-qualified investors face a 300,000-ruble ($3,800) annual crypto purchase cap under Bank of Russia oversight.Core provisions take effect Sept. 1, 2026, alongside Russia’s digital ruble rollout.The bill classifies bitcoin and other digital assets as property under the Russian civil code, not as currency. The ruble remains the only legal tender for domestic transactions.
Licensing Runs Through the Central Bank Retail Investors Face a CapNon-qualified retail investors can buy up to 300,000 rubles, about $3,800, in crypto per year through a single licensed intermediary, and must pass a risk-awareness test first. Qualified investors get a higher ceiling, roughly 3 million rubles. Privacy-focused coins are excluded on anti-money-laundering grounds, narrowing eligible trading largely to assets like bitcoin, ethereum and USDT.
Cross-Border Trade Gets a Green LightThe law’s central feature lets Russian companies use crypto to settle international trade, a channel that matters given Russia’s exclusion from SWIFT after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Domestic crypto payments remain banned.
Russia’s Finance Ministry has estimated domestic crypto trading runs close to 50 billion rubles, around $640 million, a day, much of it outside formal oversight. The new law aims to move that volume into licensed channels.
What Happens NextBanks are already positioning for the new market. Sberbank has said it plans to launch a crypto wallet by December, and VTB has discussed building out custody services.
The bill followed a long path: the government submitted it on April 1, the Duma passed a first reading on April 21 with 327 of 340 votes, and the Financial Markets Committee cleared the revised text on July 8 before recommending it for the second reading on July 16.
