Self-Regulatory Organization Planned for Russia’s Cryptocurrency Market
Participants in Russia’s digital currency market are beginning to consolidate. The Association of Banks of Russia has launched the initiative with the goal of establishing a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the financial market.
The proposed professional association is intended to help the market prepare for the new legal framework set out in Bill No. 1194918-8, On Digital Currency and Digital Rights, which passed its first reading in the State Duma this spring.
Regulatory Standards
The SRO will oversee Russia’s digital currency market. Particular attention will be given to infrastructure localization, resilience to sanctions, counterparty verification, the secure custody of client assets, risk assessment, and anti-money laundering compliance.
The new organization will be built on the Association of Banks of Russia’s Expert Center for Digital Financial Assets and Digital Currencies, which has operated since 2022. After summarizing experience from banks, mining companies, and infrastructure operators, the center prepared recommendations that helped shape the new legislation. Once adopted, the law is expected to support the launch of regulated platforms for buying, storing, and selling digital currencies, strengthen protection for client assets, and introduce additional safeguards against fraud.
Market Consolidation
The new law on digital currency and digital rights is expected to take effect this autumn. Implementing it will require specialized software. Market participants will need to deploy customer identification systems, tools to verify the origin of digital assets, and cryptocurrency address risk-scoring systems within a relatively short timeframe. Meanwhile, IT developers will need to build specialized products and compliance tools.
The market is expected to consolidate around systemically important participants. VTB and the T-Bank Group have already announced plans to establish cryptocurrency depositories, while the Moscow Exchange has stated that it is prepared to conduct cryptocurrency transactions. To prevent the market from becoming fragmented, technical compliance requirements will need to be standardized. That will become another responsibility of the SRO.
The Beginning of Legalization
The new legal framework, together with the creation of a professional association for digital asset market participants, represents a significant step toward bringing cryptocurrencies out of the regulatory gray area. They remain prohibited for domestic payments in Russia, while their use in foreign trade has been permitted since 2024 under Experimental Legal Regimes (ELRs).
“We believe this sector should be legalized and brought under statutory regulation. Working together with Rosfinmonitoring (Federal Financial Monitoring Service) and regulatory authorities, we will be able to establish clear oversight and bring order to this sector,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said last year, outlining the ministry’s position.
Bill No. 1194918-8, which has passed its first reading, establishes the legal foundation for cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency depositories, and professional market participants, moving the sector toward a comprehensive regulatory framework.
“We are witnessing the final transition from a ‘Wild West’ environment and isolated experiments to a highly structured state regulatory system,” said Artem Bagdasaryan, an attorney with the Diktatura zakona (Rule of Law) Bar Association.
Integration into the Traditional Financial System
The adoption of comprehensive legislation governing digital currencies lays the foundation for legalizing cryptoassets, protecting investors, and integrating blockchain technologies into Russia’s traditional financial system.
For Russia’s IT sector, that creates a substantial new market for blockchain analytics platforms, digital identity systems, and secure data storage technologies. The infrastructure being built for the cryptocurrency market could become an important element of Russia’s technological sovereignty while providing businesses with new tools for international settlements and digital asset management.
