Russia bill lets banks run crypto venues

TLDR

Russia is advancing a draft framework that would let domestic banks and brokers run licensed crypto trading venues under tight rules.

1. The central bank wants banks and brokers to operate crypto exchanges under their existing licenses, with a 1 percent of capital cap on direct crypto exposure and strict investor limits.
2. The model keeps crypto legal as a tradable asset, but centralizes access through regulated banks, reinforcing capital controls and sidelining unlicensed foreign platforms.
3. A follow?on stablecoin law and enforcement against offshore exchanges are expected by mid?2026, which could reshape how Russians access crypto and move value across borders.

Deep Dive

1. What The New Bill Actually Does

According to statements by Governor Elvira Nabiullina, the Bank of Russia has proposed allowing banks and brokerage firms to obtain permission to run crypto exchanges via a notification process tied to their existing licenses, rather than a separate, full licensing track. This would leverage their current anti?money laundering, counter?terrorist financing, and fraud control systems to police digital asset markets.

Crypto and stablecoins would be classified as currency valuables, meaning Russians can own and trade them, but still cannot use them as domestic means of payment. Banks net crypto risk would initially be capped at 1 percent of regulatory capital, and that cap could be revisited later based on experience.

Investor access would be tiered. Qualified investors could buy crypto without volume limits, while non?qualified investors would be limited to purchases of up to 300,000 rubles per year through a single regulated intermediary, effectively pushing most retail flow into tightly controlled channels.

2. Why It Matters For Crypto Users

A detailed report notes that this reverses earlier talk of a blanket ban and instead turns banks into the primary regulated gateways for digital asset trading, pulling activity onshore and into the tax and reporting net. The focus is less on banning crypto and more on neutralizing unlicensed peer?to?peer markets and foreign exchanges that operate outside Russian oversight.

By limiting banks to a small balance sheet exposure and keeping payment use banned, authorities aim to contain systemic and currency substitution risks while still letting capital markets trade crypto as an asset class. This is closer to a securities?style model than to full retail crypto liberalization.

3. Timeline, Stablecoins, And What To Watch

Officials have signalled a target of finalizing the broader legal framework by around mid?2026, after which penalties for unlicensed intermediaries and offshore platforms that do not localize in Russia are expected to apply. A CCN analysis says the exchange framework is expected to take effect around July 1, 2026, and then be followed by a separate stablecoin law.

The planned stablecoin bill would give approved stablecoins a clear legal status as foreign digital rights and allow them to be used in cross?border trade, with reserve, disclosure, and anti?money laundering requirements for issuers. That would formalize use cases Russian companies are already exploring informally to bypass some sanctions?related frictions.

From a market perspective, key variables to watch are how many major banks actually launch crypto venues, how aggressively Russia moves against foreign exchanges that serve local users, and how restrictive the final retail limits and stablecoin rules turn out to be.

Conclusion

Russia is not embracing open crypto markets so much as rerouting them through its existing banking system, with banks running regulated venues under tight caps and controls. If the exchange and stablecoin bills land as currently described, Russian users may get more legally secure, but more surveilled, ways to trade and move value, while unlicensed offshore access likely becomes riskier and harder to sustain.