Russia’s central bank has signaled a formal pivot toward regulating crypto trading platforms, as officials prepare legislation to bring the vast “exchange” market under state oversight.
Speaking before the Federation Council, First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin said the Central Bank of Russia’s goal is to “whitewash” the crypto exchange sector and curb its use for illicit finance.
“It seems to us that the task of the government, the Central Bank, is to create legislation as quickly as possible that directly describes and whitewashes this area, and define the rules for carrying out operations so that no laundering operations related to the financing of terrorism pass through this,” Chistyukhin said, according to state news agency TASS.
“Then it is quite possible that we will see that settlements, and international settlements in cryptocurrencies in the legal space according to established criteria are developing very actively.”
The comments mark Moscow’s most apparent acknowledgement yet that crypto trading, long tolerated in the grey zone, must now be legalized and supervised.
The move follows the country’s earlier legalization of crypto mining and comes as Russia seeks to capture tax revenue from the fast-expanding digital economy.
From pilots to policy
Russia has already begun building a national registry of mining operators. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the next step will be taxing crypto settlements, paired with formal rules for trading venues and exchanges.
The CBR has also allowd limited experiments in using crypto for cross-border payments, an acknowledgement of the sanctions-driven reality in which many Russian banks remain cut off from global payment networks.
The central bank’s Governor, Elvira N has said that digital financial assets and cryptocurrencies will operate within a controlled legal framework, underscoring the state's efforts to integrate crypto activity into formal finance.
Why crypto matters in Russia
Russia is now Europe’s largest crypto market by transaction volume. Data is show that Russian users received about $376bn in crypto value over the past year, outpacing the UK and Germany, as both institutional transfers and DeFi adoption surged.
Crypto’s popularity is also tied to domestic constraints. With capital controls limiting foreign transfers and the ruble under pressure, digital assets have become a key channel for remittances, international trade, and savings.
A major driver is the A7A5 ruble-backed stablecoin, whose daily transfer volume now exceeds $1bn. Elliptic data describes A7A5 as a growing bridge between ruble liquidity and global stablecoins such as USDT, allowing sanctioned entities to move value beyond traditional banking rails.
The sanctions backdrop
Western sanctions have increasingly targeted Russian crypto facilitators and stablecoin issuers, including those tied to A7A5. That pressure is pushing Moscow to develop domestic, supervised platforms that can provide compliance while preserving cross-border functionality.
Officials have also floated the idea of a state-linked stablecoin and broader integration of blockchain settlements through major banks such as Sberbank, which recently launched digital-asset custody and tokenised bond pilots.
Building a legal perimeter
Chistyukhin’s comments suggest that by 2026, Russia could introduce licensing for both crypto exchanges and OTC “exchangers.” The framework would require customer identification, transaction monitoring, and data sharing with authorities.
If implemented, the plan would formalise a market already operating at a massive scale, anchoring Russia’s mining output, stablecoin flows, and digital trade inside a regulated perimeter that merges compliance with control.
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