Russia Advances Crypto Bill After Removing Wallet Address Disclosure Requirement

• Committee of the Russian State Duma adopted an amended crypto bill, stripping off the wallet address disclosure mandate.
• The amendment bill enables investments into Russian stocks using cryptocurrencies, while introducing new restrictions on transfer and retail.

Russia’s State Duma Financial Markets Committee adopted a revised cryptocurrency regulation bill ahead of its second parliamentary reading. The move was communicated by the Committee Chairman Anatoly Aksakov via the official Telegram channel. Lawmakers discussed several amendments to the previous version of the bill. The new proposal scraps one of the most controversial points of the bill – the provision of mandatory wallet address disclosure.

The revised bill requires users to report their wallet balances and transaction volumes instead of wallet addresses. Aksakov stated that legislators dropped this mandate in order to avoid the disclosure of sensitive information for Russia. Despite all changes, the State Duma record shows the success of the bill’s first reading in April, before committee adoption.

Investment Opportunities Broader While Retail Restrictions Grow

According to the proposed revisions, the legislation provides additional rules that allow for investment into Russian securities and digital financial assets, in terms of cryptocurrencies. The Russian digital financial assets are the tokenized financial instruments that operate according to the domestic legal framework and independently of the cryptocurrency regulations. Despite more investment opportunities provided by the amended regulation, the lawmakers have kept the same annual investment restrictions for non-qualified investors. 

The revised bill allows retail investors to invest up to 300,000 rubles annually in regulator-approved cryptocurrencies through one intermediary. Aksakov outlined government plans to allow licensed brokers and asset managers to access foreign cryptocurrency exchanges under specific conditions. This measure implies restrictions for approved jurisdictions friendly to Russia.

Transfer Restrictions and Expanded Regulation

The new bill contains transfer restrictions applicable to some cryptocurrency transfers abroad and those made by third parties. The proposed rules allow authorities to freeze qualifying transfers for up to two days, although lawmakers have not specified the triggering threshold. The new bill also keeps the Bank of Russia responsible for licensing cryptocurrency exchanges, brokers, and other market participants. 

In addition, cryptocurrencies will be recognized as property that can be secured during insolvency and divorce procedures, and domestic crypto payments are forbidden except for foreign trade transactions. The new bill also makes progress in the planned launch of the digital ruble by the Bank of Russia on September 1.

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