Russia’s central bank puts cryptocurrencies on its 2027–2029 risk list

The Bank of Russia has added cryptocurrencies and stablecoins to the set of threats facing the country’s financial system, alongside geopolitical risks, global macroeconomic factors, and technology and cyber risks. For PSPs and acquirers in high-risk flows, the interesting part is not the rhetoric — it is the regulator’s focus on money moving into uncontrolled P2P segments, gray acquiring, and unserved payment channels.

1. In its draft Basic Directions for the Development of the Financial Market for 2027–2029, the Bank of Russia said it is concerned about the spread of “monetary surrogates” such as digital currencies and stablecoins. The central bank framed them as part of a broader risk set, not a standalone issue.
2. One of the central bank’s stated fears is that stablecoins and cryptocurrencies could start replacing the national currency in domestic payments, which it says would undermine the sovereignty of monetary policy. For operators, that is the sort of language that tends to justify tighter scrutiny of payment flows, wallets, and on-ramp/off-ramp activity.
3. The regulator also flagged the migration of funds into uncontrolled P2P (peer-to-peer) segments, gray acquiring, and unserved payment channels. That is the part payment companies should read carefully: when the regulator says “uncontrolled,” it usually means fewer places to hide payment routing that does not fit the approved rails.
4. Bank of Russia data for the first half of 2026 said it added information on 2,600 crypto wallets linked to illegal activity to a database used by banks and law enforcement, and those wallets were associated with more than 1 billion rubles. The message is straightforward: wallets tied to suspicious activity are being catalogued, not ignored.
5. Separately, central bank deputy chair Mikhail Mamuta said financial institutions would be punished for misselling — selling one product as another and hiding risks in advertising. For PSPs and financial partners, that matters because crypto-adjacent products, payment facilitation, and merchant disclosures are exactly where “risk disclosure” stops being a slogan and starts becoming a supervisory issue.

The Bank of Russia had already described crypto as a direct threat to financial stability 10 years ago. The new draft does not change the basic posture; it just gives the central bank a fresh policy document to point to when it wants to keep pressure on uncontrolled crypto-linked payment flows.