Russia Proposes Letting Banks Enter Crypto Markets Through Simple Notification Process
Russia’s relationship with crypto regulation has spent years oscillating between near-total ban and grudging tolerance. The Central Bank of Russia, or CBR, originally pushed for an outright prohibition on crypto exchanges as recently as 2022.
Western sanctions changed the calculus, crypto became too useful as a sanctions-evasion and foreign trade tool to prohibit entirely. Now the CBR appears to have landed on a different approach which it’s to channel everything through the banks it already supervises.
CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina outlined the proposal on Wednesday, saying the CBR wants banks and brokers to be able to activate crypto exchange services by simply notifying the regulator rather than going through a separate, standalone licensing process.
The argument, as she framed it: banks already have the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing infrastructure the regulator wants applied to crypto markets. “We hope that the vast experience of banks in AML/CFT and fraud prevention will help protect your clients in the crypto market,” she said.
The practical implication is significant. Under the proposal, Russia’s largest financial institutions, including Sberbank, which already offers crypto derivatives, and PSB, a state-linked bank behind the ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5, could move into full digital currency exchange services without navigating a separate licensing regime.
The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) has already said it intends to launch crypto trading immediately after new regulations take effect. Banks’ digital currency exposure would be capped at 1% of their capital under the current proposal, limiting systemic risk while still opening the door to institutional-grade trading infrastructure the existing crypto market lacks.
What the Broader Crypto Framework Actually Looks Like
The notification proposal sits inside a larger regulatory structure that has been taking shape since December 2025. Under the CBR’s framework, digital currencies and stablecoins would be classified as “currency valuables,” legally owned and traded, but prohibited as a domestic means of payment.
Retail investors who are not professionally qualified would face an annual purchase cap of 300,000 rubles (roughly $3,300) per intermediary and a mandatory knowledge test before accessing the market. Qualified investors would face no volume limits but would also be assessed.
Privacy-focused coins that obscure transaction data would be banned outright. Any transfer above 100,000 rubles (roughly $1,300) would require mandatory reporting to the CBR and Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s financial intelligence unit.
The model has drawn criticism from within Russia’s existing crypto industry. Sergey Mendeleev, a Russian digital currency entrepreneur, said the plan appeared designed to transfer digital currency exchange activity away from existing operators and toward major banks, adding that “crypto markets don’t work that way.”
Dmitriy Machikhin, founder of compliance provider BitOK, was similarly skeptical, arguing that Russian users will continue accessing international platforms regardless of what domestic regulation permits.
“The regulator wants to bring the market under its control,” he wrote, a goal that, given Russia recorded $376 billion in digital currencyl transaction volume in the 12 months through June 2025, is easier stated than achieved.
