Russia’s central bank signaled the possibility of taking a more flexible stance toward domestic cryptocurrency activity as Western sanctions continue to complicate international payments for Russian businesses and citizens.
According to a report by local news outlet Kommersant, First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin said the Bank of Russia is now reconsidering its earlier plan that would have limited crypto trading to a small group of highly experienced investors, and officials are reviewing whether the “super-qualified” category should remain central to the draft framework.
The regulator sees room to relax access rules beyond this restricted group, Chistyukhin said, noting that the issue has gained urgency as traditional foreign-currency channels face mounting constraints under sanctions.
Earlier this year, the central bank suggested launching a three-year pilot regime under which only investors with holdings in securities and deposits of more than 100 million rubles, or an annual income above 50 million rubles, would be allowed to buy and sell digital assets.
Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said in late November that both the Finance Ministry and the central bank were moving away from the original concept that limited participation in crypto markets for these top-tier investors. Officials expect to reach a unified position on the revised approach before the end of the year.
Russia’s link to crypto goes back more than a decade. In the early 2010s, mining took off in places like Siberia, where electricity costs were low and large-scale setups were easier to run.
After sanctions hit in 2014, the focus widened beyond mining. Big financial players, including Sberbank, started experimenting with blockchain tools, treating them as a way to modernize systems and reduce weaknesses in the domestic financial network.
The next turning point came in 2022. As sanctions tightened and access to international payment routes became more difficult, officials began paying closer attention to crypto as a potential bridge for cross-border transactions. At the same time, the central bank moved faster on its own alternative, expanding tests of the digital ruble.
Moving into 2024 and 2025, officials started studying how stablecoins could support trade with partner countries, signaling a more mature approach in which crypto was gradually becoming more open and adaptable.
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