Russia does not shut the door on crypto. It rather chooses who can open it, how far, and especially for what purpose. After a new wave of European sanctions this summer, Moscow accelerated it
Russia does not shut the door on crypto. It rather chooses who can open it, how far, and especially for what purpose. After a new wave of European sanctions this summer, Moscow accelerated its regulatory project. Putin signed the law, investors now have a regulated market, and the digital ruble has just scaled up. Behind this closely monitored opening lies a fairly clear line: protecting the Russian currency at home, finding more financial freedom elsewhere.
The timeline helps to understand the movement. On July 23, the European Union adopts its 21st sanctions package. Notably targeted are 94 banks and major financial institutions, 33 additional Russian entities subject to transaction bans, and 14 exchanges related to crypto established in third countries. The cross-border A7 network is also under European scrutiny.
Moscow was already looking for other channels. Russian companies can use digital assets for certain international settlements under an experimental regime supervised by the Bank of Russia. Deputy Kaplan Panesh straightforwardly described the purpose of the arrangement: to allow Russian companies to pay foreign partners while bypassing sanctions-related restrictions.
Bitcoin finds here a use that Moscow still does not grant it in Russian shops. It can circulate in certain foreign exchanges, without becoming a daily currency inside the country.
This wide gap is not an ideological conversion. Russia is looking for additional rails as several traditional rails become more difficult to access. Putin does not need to like cryptocurrencies to find the plumbing interesting.
On September 1, another piece arrived on the chessboard: the digital ruble. This time, no decentralized network nor private issuer. The new currency circulates on the Bank of Russia’s platform and represents a third form of the ruble, alongside cash and bank money.
The launch attracted the curious. In ten days, 87,000 accounts were opened and more than 50,000 transactions made. Elvira Nabiullina herself acknowledges that part of the users are still testing the service:
Many people are simply testing to see how it works. We hope they will appreciate the convenience and the free services.
Major banks must offer this infrastructure since September. Large merchants concerned must also accept these payments.
The project thus offers Putin and the authorities a domestic counterweight to private stablecoins. Crypto can enter the scene; the ruble intends to keep the boss’s chair.
Thirteen days after the massive launch of its CBDC, the Bank of Russia cooled the atmosphere. On September 14, its document dedicated to the development of the financial market for 2027-2029 lists digital currencies among risks to watch.
The contentious word is not really bitcoin. It is mainly stablecoins that worry. If Russians start using them as substitutes for the ruble, monetary sovereignty can erode. The regulator also mentions the possibility of total loss for investors and difficulties posed by assets circulating beyond national legal borders.
Regulated crypto will therefore have a short leash. Non-qualified investors can purchase up to 300,000 rubles per year per intermediary. Bitcoin, Ether, and USDT are among the assets selected for regulated exchanges. Domestic payments in cryptocurrencies remain prohibited.
Rosfinmonitoring also gains visibility. Opening an account with a Russian digital custodian now requires a tax number INN.
The law signed by Putin thus opens the market without handing over the house keys. At home, the ruble still does not share its throne.
Here is the most pragmatic side of the strategy. Russia monitors crypto at home, while allowing certain uses for foreign trade. This compartmentalization responds to a rather down-to-earth reality: an economy under sanctions continues to import, export, and search for partners willing to settle their affairs.
The European Union perfectly understood this. Its July package does not only target Russian banks. It also affects digital asset providers based in Georgia, Panama, the United Arab Emirates, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus. Brussels can now further target foreign providers used to circumvent its restrictions.
Your 1st cryptos with CoinbaseThis link uses an affiliate program.The battle therefore far exceeds Putin, Moscow, and a few exchanges. It concerns the payment infrastructures themselves: who controls them, who can use them, and under what rules?
Russia has some trading partners and is naturally looking for channels less dependent on Western banks. Digital assets can provide a piece of the puzzle, not a magic wand.
Perhaps this is the whole Russian subtlety: crypto becomes acceptable when it helps cross a border, much less when it threatens to undermine the ruble’s border.
Putin thus seems to have found his balance: letting crypto breathe when it serves foreign exchanges, while strengthening the digital ruble at home. Europe watches the same chessboard from the other side. France pushes the Twenty-Seven to develop euro stablecoins alongside the digital euro, facing the weight of tokens backed by the dollar. Behind Moscow as behind Brussels then returns an old question in new clothes: who will control the currency that will circulate tomorrow?
