Bank of Russia proposed opening cryptocurrency purchases to retail investors

The Bank of Russia announced on December 23, 2025 that it had submitted a cryptocurrency-regulation concept to the Russian government under which both qualified and non-qualified investors could purchase cryptoassets. The proposal represented a potentially consequential expansion of lawful market access, but it was not enacted legislation and did not make cryptocurrency legal tender.

The central bank proposed classifying digital currencies and stablecoins as “currency assets” that could be bought and sold while remaining prohibited as payment instruments inside Russia. Bloomberg and Interfax reported the proposal on December 23, independently confirming its retail-access provisions and its status as a framework awaiting legislation.

A limited route for non-qualified investors

Under the concept, non-qualified investors would first have to pass a test and could then buy cryptocurrencies meeting liquidity criteria that had yet to be written into law. Purchases would be capped at ₽300,000 per year through one intermediary.

That limit was expressed per intermediary in the central bank’s announcement. The document did not explain whether purchases through multiple intermediaries would be aggregated, how compliance would be monitored or which cryptocurrencies would meet the liquidity test. It therefore did not establish that bitcoin, ether, any stablecoin or any other named asset would qualify.

Qualified investors would also have to pass a risk-awareness test but would face no transaction-amount limit. They could purchase any cryptocurrency except what the central bank called anonymous cryptocurrencies: assets whose smart contracts conceal information about token transfers to recipient accounts.

The distinction mattered because a March 12, 2025 Bank of Russia proposal had contemplated a three-year experimental regime restricted to a limited group of “especially qualified” investors. The December 23 concept extended contemplated access to ordinary investors, although with testing, asset-selection and annual-purchase constraints.

Existing financial institutions would supply the rails

The proposal contemplated using established financial infrastructure rather than constructing an entirely separate market. Exchanges, brokers and trustees would be able to conduct cryptocurrency transactions under their respective licenses. Specialized depositories and cryptocurrency exchange offices would receive separate requirements.

Russian residents would also be permitted to buy cryptocurrency abroad using foreign accounts and to transfer previously purchased cryptocurrency abroad through Russian intermediaries. The central bank said those transactions would have to be reported to tax authorities. The announcement did not provide operational reporting rules, custody standards or a treatment for self-hosted wallets.

The concept also covered Russia’s category of digital financial assets and other utility or hybrid digital rights. It proposed allowing those instruments to circulate on open networks, which the central bank presented as a way for issuers to attract foreign investment. That was a policy objective, not evidence that capital had been raised or that an open-network issuance had occurred.

A framework rather than a market opening

The Bank of Russia said the related legal framework was to be drafted before July 1, 2026. It also contemplated liability from July 1, 2027 for intermediaries conducting illicit cryptocurrency-market operations, modeled on liability for illegal banking activity.

Those dates described the proposed legislative timetable. They did not guarantee enactment, specify when investor purchases would begin or establish the final contents of any law. The central bank simultaneously maintained that cryptoassets were high-risk because of volatility, the absence of an identifiable issuer or jurisdictional guarantee, and sanctions exposure.

The event-day significance was institutional: Russia’s central bank had moved from proposing a narrowly restricted experiment on March 12 to presenting a broader regulated-market concept on December 23. The surviving records provide no same-day trading volume, ruble-denominated cryptocurrency price series, investor count or on-chain measurement. No claim can therefore be made that the proposal caused a particular market move or that retail participation increased on December 23, 2025.