Russians have until 1 July 2027 to keep trading crypto directly with each other.
The Bank of Russia confirmed the deadline in updated guidance published on its website on 12 October. After that date, residents will only be able to trade crypto through, or directly with, companies licensed to organise the circulation of digital currencies.
What the law changes
The restriction comes from Federal Law No. 282-FZ, On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights. President Vladimir Putin signed it on 4 August, according to Interfax, and it took effect on 1 September.
Article 30 of the law lists the crypto operations residents can carry out without a licensed intermediary. From July 2027, trades between individuals are no longer on that list.
The guidance goes further than peer-to-peer trading. From the same date:
Individuals cannot move crypto from a digital account to a self-custody wallet, where the owner holds the private keys.
Transfers between people through addresses run by a digital depository are barred, even to settle a trade.
Ordinary users cannot act as lenders in crypto loans. Only brokers, trustees, exchange organisations and clearing houses can.
The end of card-to-USDT trades
The model being shut down is the one many Russians rely on today: a buyer sends rubles to a seller’s bank card and receives USDT in return.
Banks will also be squeezed. Andrei Tugarin, managing partner at GMT Legal, told Kommersant FM that from 1 July 2027 Russian banks must refuse clients who try to fund crypto wallets on foreign platforms. They also cannot accept rubles cashed out from those platforms.
Who can still sell crypto to Russians
Crypto exchange organisations must be Russian companies with at least 15 million rubles (about $179,000) in equity, and must appear on the central bank’s registry. Existing operators can keep working without registration until 1 July 2027.
Sberbank joined the register on 12 October and plans to launch its first crypto products on 1 December, according to Interfax. VTB and T-Invest Lab are also on the register.
Retail access is capped. Non-qualified investors must pass a test and can buy up to 300,000 rubles (about $3,600) of crypto a year. Bitcoin, Ether and USDT are the only assets on the central bank’s list for them. Qualified investors face no cap.
What stays banned, and what does not
Paying for goods and services with crypto inside Russia remains illegal.
Crypto can still be used to settle foreign trade. When the bill cleared its first reading in April, Kaplan Panesh, deputy chair of the State Duma’s budget committee, openly described that carve-out as a way of circumventing sanctions.
What happens next
The next 20 months will test whether licensed players like Sberbank can absorb demand that currently runs through private card trades. The central bank’s guidance does not set out penalties for breaking the new rules, and enforcement details had not been published at the time of writing.
