A comprehensive bill titled "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" is being prepared for consideration by the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Among other things, it outlines licensing for crypto market participants, limits for non-qualified investors, and procedures for de-anonymization.
ForkLog discussed the contentious aspects of future regulation with lawyers and market participants. This article explains why Bitcoin wallet keys will need to be shared with a digital depository and how the government plans to monitor every crypto transaction within the country.
Contents of the Bill
The text of the document is still undergoing final inter-agency approvals and has not yet been made publicly available.
On March 30, 2026, the Russian government approved a package of bills regarding digital currencies and digital rights.
The revised version includes provisions allowing residents to purchase virtual assets abroad using foreign accounts. Funds purchased through Russian intermediaries can be transferred abroad, with the Federal Tax Service (FTS) needing to be notified of all such operations.
On April 15, 2026, the State Duma's Financial Market Committee recommended the bill "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" for first reading.
"It is fundamentally important at this moment to legalize the circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation and bring them out of the gray zone," quoted the media the first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia, Vladimir Chistyukhin.
On April 21, 2026, the State Duma passed the bill in the first reading.
"Russian citizens will be able to use cryptocurrencies in all transactions within the country, except as a means of payment. Cryptocurrencies can be purchased, used in loan transactions, and provided in REPO, meaning any type of investment they currently engage in," commented Vladimir Chistyukhin.
Current discussions are based on statements from agencies and media leaks. It is also known that the bill is based on the concept presented by the Central Bank in December 2025, where the regulator reiterated the high risks of cryptocurrencies and the danger of total loss of invested funds.
The bill proposes to recognize digital currencies as monetary values. They can be bought and sold but not used for transactions within Russia.
Investor Segmentation and Limits
Different categories of investors will be required to undergo testing to understand risks, but access to operations will be granted under specific conditions.
Non-qualified market participants will be allowed to purchase the most liquid cryptocurrencies up to 300,000 rubles per year through a single intermediary. This limit is a guideline and is still under discussion.
Qualified investors will be permitted to buy any cryptocurrencies, except for anonymous ones, without volume restrictions.
Licensing and Infrastructure
Only licensed participants with the status of a Russian legal entity—such as crypto exchanges, brokers, and trust managers—will be allowed to conduct cryptocurrency operations within the country.
Specific requirements are planned for exchanges included in the Central Bank of Russia's registry and specialized digital depositories. The latter will be responsible for accounting rights to crypto assets and wallet registration.
Depositories will also have restrictions on the free disposal of coins. For example, they cannot lend coins to other users. The bill includes a disclaimer of liability for client funds in cases where funds are blocked by the token issuer or if blockchains do not operate in accordance with Russian law.
Exchange operators will have rules for conducting transactions based on their volume. If the turnover equals or exceeds 3.5 million rubles per month, the exchange can work directly with users. For amounts below this threshold, the service must serve clients exclusively through legal intermediaries—an exchange or broker. External trade contracts are not included in this limit.
The bill requires crypto exchanges to compensate clients for losses from fraudulent operations, equating them with traditional financial organizations in terms of liability.
The turnover of digital financial assets (DFAs) and other Russian digital rights is proposed to be allowed in public blockchains. Previously, they were only available in closed banking systems.
De-anonymization and Control
All legal platforms will be required to implement KYC/AML procedures. This will allow regulators to track transaction chains in real-time and identify connections with suspicious addresses. However, a specific unified compliance service (for example, "Transparent Blockchain") is not mandated by law.
User information and their operations must be reported to the FTS and law enforcement agencies both upon official request and automatically when risk filters are triggered.
The circulation of anonymous cryptocurrencies, such as Monero or Zcash, is prohibited.
The Central Bank's concept mentioned that residents would be able to purchase cryptocurrencies abroad through foreign accounts. Assets will be allowed to be transferred abroad through Russian intermediaries, but tax authorities must be notified of such operations. However, these provisions were not included in the current version of the bill.
What Changes in Current Regulation?
In the context of current regulation, cryptocurrencies in Russia are recognized as property, and with the adoption of the bill, they will also be defined as monetary values for foreign trade calculations.
Russians are still allowed to own cryptocurrencies and mine them, considering new rules. Businesses and individual entrepreneurs can use them in experimental-legal regimes for international trade.
The mechanisms for legal circulation and trading outlined in the new bill will create a full-fledged but isolated domestic market. The government intends to control every transaction, effectively blocking the infrastructure for P2P deals within the country.
Any intermediary platforms operating without a Russian license will be deemed illegal. For the average user, this means they cannot legally withdraw funds to fiat through P2P services without risking their bank accounts being blocked.
One of the most contentious points in the bill states that all assets outside the identifier addresses will not be subject to judicial protection in Russia.
However, according to a decision by the Constitutional Court dated January 20, 2026, cryptocurrencies, regardless of their storage location, are recognized as property and are subject to judicial protection even without a declaration of fact.
In practice, however, protecting "gray" assets remains extremely challenging: the owner must independently prove not only the fact of ownership of the address but also the legality of the funds' origin. Declaring income from cryptocurrencies remains the primary tool that simplifies this process and alleviates questions from banks when attempting to legalize funds.
Lawyer's Commentary
Andrei Tugarin, founder of GMT Legal, commented to ForkLog that the article regarding the impossibility of considering undeclared digital currency as a subject of judicial dispute has already been recognized as unconstitutional and will not remain in the final version of the document.
"This provision has been copied into the new bill. This indicates that the drafters approached this part carelessly, and nothing more. There is no talk of depriving cryptocurrencies of legal protection in custodial or non-custodial wallets in the new bill," he explained.
Complicating Operations
The most contentious point in the bill, according to the lawyer, concerns the administration of cryptocurrency wallets by digital depositories. The document proposes a model of quasi-custodial storage: half of the access keys to the wallet will be held by the depository, and the other half by the owner. Thus, both signatures will be required to conduct any transaction.
"This approach disrupts the usual market mechanisms and significantly complicates the free disposal of one's own cryptocurrency. Due to the extreme inconvenience of this mechanism, the most heated debates are currently centered around the proposed storage methods," the expert noted.
Exceeding Limits
No penalties are provided for non-qualified investors who exceed limits. According to Tugarin, only licensed Russian intermediaries, through whom transactions occur, are required to monitor purchase volumes. It is these platforms that must keep records, so technically, a "non-qualified" investor simply cannot purchase cryptocurrency for more than 300,000 rubles per year.
"The buyer should not be held responsible for exceeding limits, so no new sanctions in the Administrative Code or, even more so, the Criminal Code are planned. Blocking operations above the limit will occur automatically at the intermediary level. The only scenario in which an investor might face questions is if they deceitfully compel a licensed platform to conduct a transaction above the established amount," the lawyer added.
Taxes
The bill does not impose strict tax requirements on operations in foreign jurisdictions. However, any licensed intermediary within Russia will inevitably take on the function of automatic data exchange with the FTS.
"Reporting to government agencies—whether on a scheduled basis or upon direct request—is organized absolutely seamlessly, relieving the user of the need to declare each transaction independently," the lawyer explained.
At the same time, tax obligations for Russians may arise even without withdrawing funds to fiat. A scenario is likely where profitable transactions solely between different cryptocurrencies within a Russian exchange are recognized as taxable income.
According to Tugarin, a similar mechanism is currently applied to miners. They record initial income at the moment of mining the coin, deducting expenses for the process, and upon subsequent sale of the appreciated asset, they additionally pay tax on the price difference.
"A similar approach could be transferred by the regulator to ordinary investors. If a trader actively trades digital assets without converting to rubles and by the end of the year, the value of their portfolio shows a net profit relative to initial investments, this delta will need to be reflected in their taxes. With the full launch of comprehensive market regulation, this format of fiscal control seems the most realistic," he concluded.
Liquidity
Russian crypto platforms will have to seek liquidity independently, and a legal solution, according to Tugarin, will be to attract licensed exchanges as market makers:
"The scheme can work through the creation of unified cross-border structures. For example, a company with an active foreign license opens a legal branch within Russia and channels liquidity from the foreign circuit to the local one."
The lawyer emphasized that the inability to work directly with most global platforms due to sanctions does not mean an inevitable shift to the "gray" zone—legal connections exist.
"Moreover, the market expects a gradual easing of restrictions, which will only expand the variability of liquidity search over time. The focus is on such a very real scenario," he stated.
What Does the Market Think?
Among the challenges is the potential imposition of digital depositories in the role of custodians. This point will lead to non-custodial wallets being isolated, and Russian exchanges will have to automatically label any transactions involving them as high-risk.
However, BitOK CEO Dmitry Machikhin considers such fears premature and doubts that the regulator will take such radical measures. According to him, the format of asset storage should remain the exclusive right of user choice; otherwise, the state risks achieving the exact opposite effect.
"If crypto users are strictly limited, there is a risk of their complete abandonment of the legal infrastructure in favor of circumvention schemes," the expert warned.
Concerns about isolation from global compliance systems are also considered exaggerated by the head of BitOK. In his assessment, existing localized solutions from specialized analytical companies, similar to their own service, are sufficient for full-fledged AML checks.
A pressing issue remains the discussed limit of 300,000 rubles for non-qualified investors. Against the backdrop of high compliance costs, data storage, and reporting, this will negatively impact the profitability of retail exchange businesses.
Commenting on this point, Exved CEO Sergey Mendeleev urged caution in drawing conclusions until the final text of the law is published. According to him, in the working versions of the document he has seen, this strict threshold has already been excluded.
"Of course, the limitation is insane and will simply destroy the legal market. I see no point in seriously discussing it," the expert concluded emphatically.
For crypto exchange aggregators like BestChange, a key problem becomes potential Roskomnadzor blocks for advertising illegal services. Platforms will need to decide whether to hide shadow services from users in Russia and how to retain their audience under strict P2P market restrictions.
BestChange analyst Nikita Zuborev confirmed the readiness to operate within the law and, if necessary, limit access for Russian IP addresses. The company has prior experience with such measures, having successfully implemented them to resolve extrajudicial claims from the Central Bank. However, technically implementing a total ban is extremely challenging.
"Neither we nor the regulatory authorities have the ability to accurately determine a user's location if they connect through protected circuits or foreign corporate gateways," the expert noted.
At the same time, the scale of market upheavals directly depends on the final implementation of the law, Zuborev believes. If most existing exchanges are allowed to operate as legal agents, the business structure will not change significantly—platforms will merely change brokers for liquidity storage.
To retain the Russian audience, the aggregator plans to use an integrated cryptocurrency risk assessment service and develop its own educational portal.
What About Other Countries?
Unlike the isolated domestic market being formed in Russia, other jurisdictions are integrating digital assets into the overall financial system and creating incentives for the industry.
European Union
The EU has opted for systemic standardization by adopting the MiCA regulation. It introduced uniform rules for service providers, allowing companies with a license from one country to operate in all 27 member states.
Regulators do not limit purchase volumes for citizens, and non-custodial wallets have legal status, although transactions involving them are subject to AML monitoring.
United States
U.S. authorities have focused on accessibility. In particular, the launch of crypto-ETFs has allowed for the integration of digital assets into the traditional financial system.
The GENIUS Act, passed in summer 2025, legalized stablecoins as a payment instrument, while the discussed Clarity Act in the Senate aims to implement uniform rules for exchanges.
These measures are aimed not at restricting trading for citizens but at creating a secure legal environment for capital.
United Arab Emirates
The Emirates' strategy aims to create a global infrastructure for international cryptocurrency companies.
There is no personal income tax on investments in digital assets for resident individuals. Licensed operators, like other legal entities, pay a 9% corporate tax if their annual income exceeds 1 million dirhams (~$270,000).
From November 2024, any transactions with tokens will be completely exempt from VAT.
Additionally, the jurisdiction offers tax residency to cryptocurrency company owners, making it one of the most attractive in the world for large capital and professional market participants.
Conclusion
The main legislative framework in the State Duma is expected to be prepared by July 1, 2026, after which the Bank of Russia will issue clarifying regulations. According to the roadmap from the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, the transition period for the market will last exactly one year.
The next stage in 2027 is expected to introduce administrative and criminal liability for illegal activities by intermediaries in the crypto market, similar to the banking sector.
Regulation will ultimately transform cryptocurrencies from a freely traded instrument into a transparent investment asset, comparable to stocks or bonds.
A likely development vector will be the creation of "white lists" of crypto addresses and legal gateways for external settlements.
The average user will have to choose between working with licensed brokers under state protection and moving into the "gray" zone. Using P2P and non-custodial wallets will allow circumventing limits, but it will complicate the owner's ability to recover assets in case of theft or blockage.