Putin Signs Russia's First Comprehensive Crypto Law, Licensing Exchanges and Custodians While Keeping the Payment Ban

President Vladimir Putin has signed Russia's first comprehensive statute for digital assets, covering crypto exchanges, brokers, asset managers, exchange services and a new class of digital depositories, Cointelegraph reported citing TASS. Watcher Guru carried the same confirmation.

Russian coverage sets out the structure. Interfax reports that the law creates five categories of regulated participants and moves storage and record-keeping into licensed digital depositories. Existing securities depositories can qualify if they meet software and information-protection requirements. Most provisions enter into force on 1 September 2026, and the requirement to transact only through licensed intermediaries applies from 1 July 2027, according to Izvestia.

What the law does not do matters as much. Using crypto to pay for goods and services inside Russia remains prohibited, as Bitcoin Magazine notes. The state is legalising the venue and the custodian, not the currency. Access is also tiered, with rules distinguishing qualified from non-qualified investors.

The design is consistent with how Moscow has treated crypto since sanctions tightened. Trading and custody are placed inside a supervised system the central bank can monitor, while the ruble keeps its monopoly on domestic payment. Cross-border settlement, which Russian firms have used digital assets for under an experimental regime, sits outside the retail framework and remains under separate control.