Russia plans to tighten oversight of its fast-growing crypto market and may begin blocking foreign exchanges in summer of 2026. Officials tie the effort to a new framework that will regulate Bitcoin and altcoin trading through licensed domestic platforms.
Industry experts, cited by Russian outlet RBC, say authorities could begin cutting off major offshore exchanges once lawmakers complete new rules scheduled for adoption by 1 July 2026. The rules aim to replace the current patchwork approach with a unified regime for investment, trading, and custody of digital assets.
Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov recently said Russians trade about 50 billion rubles, or about $640–$650 million in crypto each day. He said the annual turnover exceeds 10 trillion rubles and sits largely outside the regulated zone. The finance ministry and the central bank treat this volume as too large to ignore.
Moreover, the draft framework would introduce licensing for cryptocurrency exchanges and brokers and define their operations. Officials would retain the ban on domestic crypto payments but permit trading for investment with risk warnings.
Policy makers focus on the large stream of commissions that now flows abroad. Sergey Shvetsov, chairman of the supervisory board of Moscow Exchange, estimated that Russian users pay roughly $15 billion a year in fees to foreign crypto exchanges. He said local platforms want to compete for that revenue once the law allows full crypto services.
The Moscow and St Petersburg exchanges already run futures on major coins and prepare to launch spot markets for Bitcoin, Ether and other tokens. The proposed rules would let existing licensed infrastructure expand into crypto, while imposing limits and tests on retail traders that regulators call non-qualified investors.
Lawmakers also discuss potential caps on the amount that retail investors can allocate to digital assets each year. The central bank would hold the power to approve which cryptocurrencies can trade on regulated venues and could restrict privacy-focused coins that complicate supervision and sanctions compliance.
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According to analysts, technical enforcement will most likely employ technologies that Russia already utilizes to block other foreign exchanges. Nikita Zuborev, a senior analyst at bestchange.ru, said that Roskomnadzor may begin blocking unlicensed crypto exchanges. Zuborev also said that DNS-level blocking and deep packet inspection are likely to be employed.
According to some experts, the government may also use data localisation regulations. Many major international crypto exchanges store user data on their servers in Europe or the United States. The government can use this as a way to justify restrictions if the exchanges refuse to store user data for Russian users on local servers or obtain a license.
However, some experts believe that demand for offshore services will not disappear. Russian users may shift to other services such as VPNs, P2P exchanges, and decentralised exchanges. In these markets, it will be harder for the government to enforce restrictions. However, there is a risk of fraud.
The success of the new policy will depend on the time it takes for new exchanges to build liquid markets and the extent to which the government enforces restrictions on access to foreign exchanges.
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