Overview
Russia’s path from informal/gray crypto activity toward a Bank of Russia–supervised licensing regime with domestic payment bans and explicit cross-border settlement allowances.
Timeline
- 2026-07-21: State Duma passes bill 1194918-8 in 2nd/3rd readings (russia-crypto-digital-rights-law)
- Pending: federation-council + presidential signature
- Target: main provisions 2026-09-01; transition through 2027-07-01
Key Players
- bank-of-russia
- state-duma
- federation-council
- Compare: us-crypto-policy, south-korea-digital-assets, mica
Analysis
Design pattern: property recognition + licensed intermediaries + retail caps + foreign-trade settlement channel, without legalizing domestic crypto payments. Sanctions-workaround framing is politically sensitive — attribute to sources.
Contradiction
Secondary sources disagree on qualified-investor limits: FinanceFeeds/Bitcoin Magazine report 3M/1M RUB caps; CoinDesk simplifies to “without restrictions.” See russia-crypto-digital-rights-law.