Bank of Russia prepares stricter rules for crypto operations

Russia’s monetary authority is going to impose new requirements for crypto-related operations to allegedly reduce the risks for banks involved in their processing.

The regulator has already informed dozens of concerned institutions about the planned regulatory changes, urging them to treat such transactions conservatively in the meantime.

Bank of Russia to regulate crypto-linked bank operations

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) intends to adopt specific rules to guide banking organizations working with digital assets, the official TASS news agency reported.

These are necessary to minimize risks for commercial banks and their customers stemming from crypto operations, the authority argued, also quoted by the Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media.

The regulations will determine capital requirements and introduce standards for both direct and indirect investments in cryptocurrencies.

Expected in 2026, the new rules will also apply to crypto-based financial instruments, purchased or issued by the banks themselves.

Similar requirements will be put in place for loans issued to crypto companies, the media reports revealed, citing the Bank of Russia’s report on the development of banking regulation and supervision.

The CBR has already informed market participants about its plans. It advised 97 banks to adopt a conservative approach when assessing the risks of operations involving crypto assets.

The regulator also suggested they should provide full coverage for the nominal value of cryptocurrency instruments and limit them to no more than 1% of their capital.

Russia’s central bank is still wary about cryptocurrencies

Among financial regulators in Russia, the CBR has been the strongest opponent of legalizing operations with decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

However, heavy Western sanctions that restricted Russian access to global financial channels convinced the bank to allow limited use of crypto in foreign trade.

Earlier this year, the monetary authority proposed a special “experimental legal regime” for cross-border cryptocurrency settlements. Nevertheless, it’s still against crypto payments inside the country.

Then, amid growing Russian crypto holdings, already exceeding $25 billion as reported by Cryptopolitan, the Bank of Russia permitted crypto investments in May.

While digital assets are only accessible through derivatives and available to a limited group of “highly qualified” buyers, Russians invested $16 million in Bitcoin futures in less than a month after the CBR authorized financial institutions to offer such products on the Russian market.

The central bank is now under increasing pressure to soften its stance on crypto, given that ordinary citizens are finding ways to acquire and trade coins anyway.

Last week, a group of lawmakers urged its management to facilitate the establishment of a “network of legal crypto exchanges,” a move that would effectively legalize the trading of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation.

The members of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, insisted this would reduce illegal crypto circulation in the country and increase trust in financial institutions.

The Russian deputies also proposed a mandatory requirement for the minimum size of the authorized capital of the operators of these trading platforms to make sure they are financially stable.

Earlier this year, Russia’s finance ministry, which has been generally more open to decentralized digital money, unveiled that it wants to create a cryptocurrency exchange for qualified investors in collaboration with the CBR.

Bank of Russia’s plan to enforce stricter rules for crypto operations next year comes weeks after the monetary policy regulator set the dates for the gradual launch of the digital ruble.

The state-issued coin, the third incarnation of the national fiat after cash and bank money, will be introduced to the public in stages, starting from Sept. 1, 2026.

In recent months, Russia has been amending various laws, suffocating crypto usage in what looks like an apparent attempt to clear the ground for its own central bank digital currency.

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