Federal Law No. 282-FZ entered into force on September 1 after President Vladimir Putin signed it on August 4. The State Duma approved the legislation on July 21 and the Federation Council endorsed it three days later.
The law creates rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, digital depositories, brokers, asset managers, placing the market under oversight by the Bank of Russia. It also establishes how investors can buy, sell and hold digital currencies through regulated channels.
Non-qualified investors will be permitted to purchase the most liquid cryptocurrencies after passing a mandatory knowledge test. Their purchases will be capped at 300,000 roubles a year through each intermediary, according to the Bank of Russia. Qualified investors must also pass testing but may buy and sell cryptocurrencies without a monetary ceiling.
The central bank has identified Bitcoin, Ether and Tether’s USDT as assets meeting its proposed criteria for public exchange trading. The selection considers market capitalisation, average daily trading volume and at least five years of pricing history on overseas platforms.
Cryptocurrency exchanges will handle purchases and sales, while digital depositories will record rights to crypto assets. Transactions can also be conducted through brokers and management companies, including on organised trading venues. The framework applies comparable requirements to foreign stablecoins.
Domestic use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment remains prohibited. The legislation therefore does not make Bitcoin or other private digital currencies legal tender, and the rules are separate from Russia’s digital rouble, a central bank digital currency being introduced under its own statutory framework.
Exporters and importers, however, are allowed to use cryptocurrencies for cross-border settlements without the domestic payment restriction. The Bank of Russia has said such transactions can be conducted either through intermediaries or directly, using different types of wallets and cryptocurrencies.
Residents may also conduct cryptocurrency transactions abroad through foreign bank accounts and may transfer cryptocurrency bought in Russia overseas through regulated intermediaries. Crypto holdings recorded outside Russia must be disclosed to the tax authorities under the new framework.
Implementation will be phased. Market participants have a transition period running into 2027 to obtain required authorisations and align their operations with the regulatory regime. Several provisions of the federal law take effect on later dates, including measures due on July 1 and September 1, 2027.
The Bank of Russia has been preparing subordinate regulations needed to operate the market. Draft rules issued covered investor purchase limits, admission of cryptocurrencies to organised trading, accounting standards, margin trading, prudential treatment and requirements for digital depositories.
Under draft depository requirements, minimum capital would range from 50 million to 250 million roubles depending on the scope of an operator’s activities, including whether it works with public distributed ledgers or provides post-trade settlement services. The central bank will maintain the register of digital depositories.
Regulatory preparations continued in the final days before the law’s commencement. The Bank of Russia published measures covering qualification requirements for key personnel at cryptocurrency exchanges and digital depositories, as well as procedures for maintaining registers of authorised market participants. Some regulations were still undergoing state registration with the Justice Ministry as of late August.
The legislation also formalises rules for cryptocurrency mining and mining infrastructure. Registered individual entrepreneurs and companies may mine once included in the relevant register, while individuals who are not entrepreneurs may mine within government-set electricity consumption limits.
Authorities retain the power to prohibit or restrict mining in specified regions or territories, while tax authorities supervise compliance with several registration and reporting obligations. Miners must provide information on cryptocurrency obtained from mining and associated wallet identifiers under procedures set by the government.
Arabian Post – Crypto News Network
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