Putin signed Russia's first crypto law, legalizing trading through licensed exchanges while banning crypto payments. Retail caps and a September 1 start date apply.
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President Vladimir Putin signed Russia's first comprehensive digital currency law on Tuesday, state news agency Tass reported. The legislation sets rules for issuing, storing, accounting for, and trading crypto, wrapping exchanges, digital depositories, brokers, and clearing houses in one framework.
It is not a free market. The law keeps the ban on using crypto as payment for goods and services, and it blocks advertising that pitches crypto payments. Russia already legalized crypto mining in 2024, when Putin signed a separate bill green-lighting the industry. This law fills the gap on trading and custody that the mining rules left open.
Only organizations on a special government registry may run crypto exchanges. Existing operators get a grace period to register by July 1, 2027. Registered exchanges need at least 15 million rubles, about $187,000, of their own capital and must join a self-regulatory body in the financial market. Regular exchange activity kicks in once a firm trades more than 3.5 million rubles in a month. Banks and foreign-lender branches must reject transfers they suspect are routed through an unregistered provider.
Retail access is capped and gated. Non-accredited investors may buy the most liquid cryptocurrencies, with the list yet to be disclosed, through licensed intermediaries. They are limited to 300,000 rubles per year per intermediary. Both retail and qualified investors must pass a knowledge test. Qualified investors face no purchase limit.
The law also guarantees court protection for crypto owners regardless of whether they declared the assets before.
Most provisions take effect September 1. Decrypt tracked the bill as it neared passage, noting the gap between "buy crypto" and "use crypto" was the whole point. Russia wants a regulated on-ramp, not a parallel currency. The framework dovetails with the digital ruble push, which the central bank governor says banks must support by the same September 1 date.
The law's exceptions matter most outside Russia. Settlements under foreign trade contracts between residents and nonresidents are permitted, as are deals involving mined coins and payments inside digital asset platforms. That carve-out is the part Western regulators will watch. Russia has leaned on crypto for cross-border trade as sanctions pressure built.
The law gives Russian holders something they did not have: legal standing and a licensed venue. It gives the state what it wanted more: a central bank-supervised pipeline it can monitor.
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