Russia has adopted its first comprehensive legal framework for the cryptocurrency market after President Vladimir Putin signed a law setting rules for a wide range of digital-asset activities.

The measure creates a formal regime for exchanges, custodians, brokers, clearing institutions and investors. It also sets limits for retail participation, imposes registration and capital requirements on platforms, and keeps the long-standing ban on using crypto for everyday domestic payments while allowing its use in certain cross-border trade settlements.

A full market framework

The new law is described as Russia’s first broad regulatory structure for the crypto market. Rather than focusing on a single activity, it establishes rules for several types of market participants across the digital-asset sector.

Entities covered by the law include crypto exchanges, custodians, brokers, clearing institutions and investors. By bringing these groups under one framework, the legislation lays out how participation in the market is meant to be supervised going forward.

Investment limits and investor screening

Under the law, retail investors are limited to buying only highly liquid crypto assets, and their purchases are capped at 300,000 rubles per year through each intermediary. Qualified investors, by contrast, are permitted to invest in all crypto assets without a purchase limit.

The law also requires suitability screening for both retail and qualified investors. Retail participants may be able to obtain qualified status based on criteria that include trading history, creating a pathway to broader access than standard retail rules allow.

Rules for exchanges and service providers

Crypto exchanges will face minimum operating requirements under the new regime. They must hold at least 15 million rubles in capital, register in a government registry and join a self-regulatory organization in the financial market.

Those provisions are intended to set baseline standards for firms operating in the sector. The law’s scope also extends beyond exchanges, covering other infrastructure providers such as custodians, brokers and clearing institutions.

Payments remain restricted, with one key exception

The legislation does not legalize the use of crypto for ordinary domestic commerce. The use of crypto assets as payment for goods and services inside Russia remains banned under the new framework.

At the same time, the law permits crypto to be used for cross-border payments in foreign trade transactions between residents and non-residents. That carveout creates a limited payments use case even as the domestic ban stays in place.

When the law takes effect

The law is scheduled to take effect on September 1, although some of its provisions will be introduced in stages through 2027. That phased approach means the full regulatory regime will not begin all at once.

Existing exchanges are given additional time to comply. According to the law, they have a grace period running until March 1, 2027.

Source: en.bloomingbit.io