The State Duma building in Moscow, Russia

Russia’s State Duma Just Opened One Crypto Door — and Kept Another Locked

By Isaac • July 21, 2026 4:55 pm • Comments

Russia has spent years trying to keep cryptocurrency away from the cash register.

Now it is preparing to let crypto much deeper into the financial system—but the door does not open the same way for everyone.

Russia’s State Duma passed Bill 1194918-8 in its second and third readings on July 21, advancing the country’s broadest attempt yet to create a regulated market for buying, holding and trading digital assets.

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The vote is a major legislative step. It is not the final one.

The measure still has to clear the Federation Council and be signed by President Vladimir Putin before it becomes law. Most of its core provisions are planned to take effect September 1 if those remaining steps are completed.

A same-day market update captured the speed and scale of the Duma’s move:

The framework creates one lane for ordinary investors, a wider lane for qualified investors and a strikingly different lane for companies moving money across Russia’s borders.

For non-qualified investors, access would begin with a test.

Those who pass could buy only the most liquid cryptocurrencies, and purchases would be capped at 300,000 rubles per year through each intermediary. That is roughly $3,800 to $3,900 at recent exchange rates, although the dollar value will move with the ruble.

The Bank of Russia said qualified investors would also have to pass a test. Once they do, however, they could buy any cryptocurrency without an amount cap.

The regulator also said foreign stablecoins would be governed under the same basic requirements as other cryptocurrencies. Its plan places both investor groups inside a licensed financial system instead of allowing open access through unregistered venues.

That system would include crypto exchanges, digital depositories, brokers and asset managers alongside existing financial firms. The same announcement preserves the domestic payment ban, opens an unrestricted settlement channel to exporters and importers, and gives market participants until July 1, 2027 to obtain licenses and comply.

That split tells us a great deal about Moscow’s real objective.

Moscow is neither giving crypto a blanket endorsement nor trying to stamp it out. It is building a tiered system designed to pull activity into institutions the state can license, monitor and police.

The retail cap may also be less straightforward than it first appears. The official wording applies the 300,000-ruble ceiling per year through one intermediary.

How regulators coordinate limits across multiple brokers or exchanges will matter enormously once the market goes live.

So will the definition of “most liquid.”

Meduza reported that the central bank has identified Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT as the assets that currently meet its standards for market capitalization, liquidity and pricing history.

The outlet said most Russians would be allowed to hold crypto as an investment rather than spend it as money. Purchases on regulated exchanges would run through brokers and asset managers, with the test and annual ceiling separating ordinary buyers from qualified investors.

It also placed the vote in a longer policy sequence. Russia legalized cryptocurrency mining in 2024, then lawmakers introduced bills in the spring of 2026 that would impose criminal penalties for illegal mining and illegal crypto circulation.

That history helps explain the shape of the new framework: legal access inside a closely supervised market, backed by penalties for business conducted outside it.

The list can change, but the ordinary-investor lane could be narrow at launch. Qualified investors would have a legal route to more assets without the purchase ceiling.

Then comes the line Russia is not crossing.

Crypto payments for goods and services inside the country would remain prohibited.

A Russian resident could buy an approved digital asset as an investment. That same resident still could not use it as ordinary money at a store.

The distinction protects the ruble’s exclusive role in domestic payments while allowing the state to capture activity that has long existed outside a clear regulatory perimeter.

But at the border, the rules change dramatically.

The Bank of Russia said exporters and importers would be allowed to use crypto for cross-border settlements without limits. Those transactions could run through regulated intermediaries or take place directly, and the permission would cover all wallet types and cryptocurrencies.

It is a potentially wide settlement channel for Russian foreign trade at a time when sanctions have made access to conventional international payment rails harder for many companies.

The geopolitical reading arrived almost immediately:

Calling the framework a sanctions loophole is one interpretation. The operational point is clear either way: Russia wants crypto to remain off-limits as domestic money while making it available as an international settlement tool.

That combination could push more trade activity toward stablecoins and other liquid digital assets, especially where correspondent banks are unavailable, too expensive or unwilling to handle a transaction.

A crypto transfer can settle without a traditional correspondent bank, but it does not become invisible. Foreign exchanges, custodians and stablecoin issuers may still screen wallets, freeze assets or reject transactions connected to sanctioned entities.

Russian authorization cannot force a foreign platform or token issuer to accept the payment.

That friction will help determine whether the cross-border provision becomes a major trade rail or a legal framework with limited practical reach.

Existing financial firms would be joined by new crypto exchanges and digital depositories. Exchanges would handle purchases and sales, while depositories would record rights tied to digital assets.

Brokers and asset managers could also execute transactions, including on organized trading venues.

The Block reported that exchanges, custodians and brokers would need to join a special registry to operate legally. Banks would also be expected to block transfers to recipients suspected of running unauthorized crypto exchanges.

The report traced the measure back to its first Duma reading in April, when lawmakers initially expected the framework to take effect July 1. Most provisions are now planned for September 1, giving regulators and market participants a little more time to prepare.

It also reported that prior crypto-trading experience could count toward qualified-investor status. That detail could shape who reaches the uncapped lane first, especially among Russians who were already active before a formal domestic market existed.

The registry and bank-blocking provisions show where enforcement will land. Rather than trying to stop blockchain transfers themselves, the state can pressure the licensed businesses and banking connections people need to move between rubles and crypto.

Market participants would receive a transition period through July 1, 2027 to obtain licenses and bring their operations into compliance.

That deadline may matter as much as the September launch date.

September is when the new legal market is supposed to begin. July 2027 is when the gray zone starts getting much harder to occupy.

The message to existing operators is straightforward: join the regulated system or risk being cut away from banking access and customers.

Russian residents would still be able to conduct crypto transactions abroad, but only through foreign bank accounts. They could also transfer crypto purchased in Russia overseas through regulated intermediaries, while holdings kept abroad would have to be reported to tax authorities.

For the crypto market, the immediate winners are not necessarily token holders.

Licensed exchanges, brokers, custodians, compliance providers and blockchain-analysis firms stand to become essential pieces of the new system. The more activity Russia pulls into regulated channels, the more valuable those chokepoints become.

Large, liquid assets could benefit from a new pool of legal demand. But the retail ceiling, testing requirement and limited eligible list may keep that demand modest at first.

The larger potential volume sits in foreign trade, where the law offers no amount cap and no restriction to a short list of coins.

That is the real contradiction at the center of Bill 1194918-8.

Russia is treating crypto as too risky to function as money for its citizens at home, manageable as an investment under tight supervision and useful enough to move unlimited value for exporters and importers abroad.

The Duma has opened a crypto market. It has also drawn a bright line around what that market is for.

If the bill completes the remaining legislative steps, September 1 will not mark Russia’s embrace of decentralized money.

It will mark something more calculated: a state-controlled crypto system built to protect the ruble at home and create another payment option beyond Russia’s borders.

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