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The Russian State Duma<\/strong> is scheduled to hold final votes on July 21 for a landmark bill that will formalize the country\u2019s first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. If approved in its second and third readings, the legislation is expected to take effect on September 1, marking a strategic shift in Moscow\u2019s approach to global finance.<\/p>\n The bill, titled “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” is designed to provide a legal mechanism for Russian companies to conduct international trade<\/strong> using cryptocurrencies. This move is widely viewed as an attempt to circumvent the tightening grip of Western sanctions<\/strong>, which have significantly restricted Russia\u2019s access to the SWIFT<\/a> global payment system and traditional banking corridors since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n Under the new framework, the Bank of Russia<\/strong> will serve as the primary regulatory authority, overseeing a licensing regime for crypto exchanges, brokers, and custodians. Major financial institutions, including VTB and T-Bank, have already signaled their intent to enter the space by announcing plans for crypto depositories. However, the central bank retains the power to prohibit any digital asset it perceives as a risk to national financial stability.<\/p>\n The legislation introduces strict criteria for digital assets permitted for legal trade. To qualify, a cryptocurrency must have a total market capitalization<\/strong> exceeding 5 trillion rubles\u2014approximately $65 billion\u2014and a verified trading history of at least five years on licensed foreign exchanges. Currently, these requirements effectively limit the field to Bitcoin and Ethereum, though analysts suggest that assets like Solana or TON could eventually be included based on their local popularity.<\/p>\n While the law opens doors for cross-border settlements, it maintains a rigid prohibition on using cryptocurrency for domestic payments. The Russian ruble will remain the only legal tender within the country. This dual-track policy reflects the government’s desire to harness the utility of blockchain for external commerce while preventing the erosion of the national currency’s sovereignty.<\/p>\n Retail investors will face significant hurdles under the new rules. Individuals without professional credentials will be restricted to an annual purchase limit of 300,000 rubles, roughly equivalent to $3,800, through licensed intermediaries. Furthermore, the bill imposes a total ban on privacy coins<\/strong> such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash. These assets, which utilize advanced cryptography to obscure transaction data, are deemed incompatible with the Financial Action Task Force<\/a> (FATF) standards for anti-money laundering (AML) verification.<\/p>\n The regulatory push follows Russia’s emergence as a major player in the digital asset infrastructure. In August 2024, President Vladimir Putin signed a law regulating crypto mining, which helped solidify Russia’s position as the world\u2019s second-largest Bitcoin producer<\/strong>, trailing only the United States. This industrial-scale mining capability provides the liquidity necessary to support the proposed international settlement system.<\/p>\n The law mandates that unlicensed platforms<\/strong> must cease operations by July 1, 2027. Following the Duma’s vote, the bill requires approval from the Federation Council and the signature of President Putin, a process expected to be completed within the next two weeks. For more information on the evolving regulatory landscape, the Bank of Russia<\/a> provides official updates on financial policy and digital currency standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Russian State Duma is scheduled to hold final votes on July 21 for a landmark bill that will formalize the country\u2019s first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets. If approved in its second and third readings, the legislation is expected to take effect on September 1, marking a strategic shift in Moscow\u2019s approach to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7360,7362,7359,1195,7361,7132,7363,7134],"class_list":["post-4817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crypto","tag-bank-of-russia","tag-bitcoin-producer","tag-international-trade","tag-market-capitalization","tag-privacy-coins","tag-state-duma","tag-unlicensed-platforms","tag-western-sanctions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4818,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4817\/revisions\/4818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}