Russia Is One Vote Away From Making Crypto Legal — Here Is What the Bill Actually Does

Russia’s State Duma is scheduled to hold its second and third readings of a landmark crypto regulation bill on Tuesday before the law moves to the Federation Council and then to President Vladimir Putin for signature. 

If it clears those stages, the legislation would formalize digital assets as legal instruments for international trade settlements and cross-border payments.

What Russia’s Crypto Bill Actually Changes 

Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, confirmed the schedule, saying lawmakers plan to consider both remaining readings on July 21. The bill, formally titled “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” passed its first reading in April with 327 out of 340 deputies voting in favor.

The legislation treats crypto as property rather than legal tender. That distinction is deliberate. The Russian ruble remains the only lawful currency for domestic transactions, and the bill maintains that prohibition. 

What changes is the international dimension — Russian companies would gain a regulated pathway to use cryptocurrencies for cross-border trade, giving them an alternative to the conventional banking channels that Western sanctions have made largely inaccessible.

The bill does not mention any specific cryptocurrencies by name, keeping the framework deliberately broad to accommodate whatever digital assets prove most useful for international trade. 

In practice, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether’s USDT stablecoin are the most likely initial beneficiaries given the eligibility criteria — only cryptocurrencies with market capitalizations above 5 trillion rubles, equivalent to approximately $66.6 billion, and a minimum five-year trading history would qualify for organized exchange trading. 

The Final Steps Before Putin Signs the Bill 

The investor framework distinguishes between retail and qualified participants. Non-qualified retail investors face an annual purchase cap of 300,000 rubles — approximately $3,800 — through licensed intermediaries and must pass specific testing to access crypto assets. 

Qualified investors face higher, yet still defined, limits. All trading platforms will require licensing from the Bank of Russia, which will serve as the regulatory authority under the proposed framework.

Beyond that, the latest version of the bill introduced several notable changes — including simplified reporting requirements for crypto holders, broader use of digital assets in regulated financial markets, and a framework that could eventually allow licensed Russian firms to access foreign cryptocurrency exchanges.

However, passage in the Duma on Tuesday does not complete the process. The bill must then clear the Federation Council, parliament’s upper chamber, before reaching Putin’s desk for signature. 

Given the bill’s first-reading margin and its origins as a government-sponsored piece of legislation, significant resistance at either stage is not widely expected.

Tuesday’s vote also arrives weeks before the Bank of Russia is scheduled to begin the commercial rollout of the digital ruble on September 1 — the same date the crypto bill’s main provisions are set to take effect if it clears all remaining approvals. 

Featured image generated with OpenArt.