The Bank of Russia has published draft regulations for an organized digital asset market, setting out capital and oversight rules for new regulated entities it calls digital depositories. The proposals arrive ahead of a planned September launch of Russia’s broader digital assets framework.

New depository category

Under the draft, Russia would apply parts of its securities-market regime to digital assets. A central feature is the creation of regulated digital depositories, which would be subject to minimum capital thresholds tied to the services they provide and the types of assets they handle.

The capital requirement would range from 50 million to 250 million rubles. Settlement depositories would face the highest threshold at 250 million rubles. The draft also provides for lower requirements of 100 million or 50 million rubles in certain cases, depending on specific conditions tied to operations and asset categories.

Standards for capital and operations

The proposal does more than set headline capital levels. It also introduces liquidity and credit-quality requirements for the assets that firms would be allowed to count toward those capital obligations. That means entities would not only need to meet minimum amounts on paper, but would also have to hold qualifying assets under standards defined by the central bank.

The rules are also intended to cover operators of electronic platforms that settle transactions in digital assets. In effect, the framework reaches beyond custody-style entities and extends to parts of the market infrastructure needed to process digital asset trades and settlements.

Central bank oversight

As outlined in the draft, the Bank of Russia would keep official registers for several categories of participants in the market. These would include digital depositories, crypto exchange operators, and companies that issue digital assets.

That registry system would give the central bank a formal mechanism to supervise which firms are permitted to operate within the organized market structure contemplated by the new rules. The proposals remain in draft form and have been opened for public assessment.

Sanctions backdrop and legislative timing

The publication comes as Russia accelerates work on digital asset regulation following fresh western sanctions, according to the source report. The timing is also notable because the draft follows the State Duma’s adoption of a digital assets law and lands just before the expected September rollout of the country’s digital asset framework.

Taken together, the measures suggest the central bank is moving to define the market’s operating standards before the broader regime takes effect, while still leaving room for feedback during the public assessment stage.

Source: www.coindesk.com