Bank of Russia expects illegal crypto exchangers to disappear after July 1, 2027

The Bank of Russia says it expects to shut down all crypto exchangers that refuse to obtain authorization after July 1, 2027, when the government’s law on state control of cryptocurrencies fully takes effect. For PSPs and compliance teams, the detail that matters is not the headline ban but the shift from a gray market to a formally split “white” and “black” market, with enforcement attached.

1. Bank of Russia official Bogdan Shablya, head of the Financial Monitoring and Foreign Exchange Control Department, said the transition period for crypto exchangers ends after July 1, 2027. After that date, the authorities expect the market to have a clear structure because the grace period for obtaining a license will be over.
2. Shablya said the Central Bank plans to introduce mandatory checks on cryptoassets for signs of criminal origin. The assets would be screened through the “Transparent Blockchain” service and similar tools.
3. He framed the post-July 1 setup as a split market: not a single gray zone, but a division into “white” and “black” segments with corresponding penalties. For payment providers and banking partners, that usually means fewer excuses for unlicensed flow and more pressure on counterparties to document source of funds.
4. Russian crypto regulation expert Viktor Pershikov pushed back, saying authorities will not be able to eliminate illegal exchangers entirely. In his view, the existence of the law itself guarantees a gray zone, and offices in the City will not sit empty.
5. Earlier, Sberbank deputy chairman Stanislav Kuznetsov said Russian authorities were making progress against crypto-to-cash exchangers and that the “wasp nests” of illegal crypto exchangers would be “systematically destroyed.”

For high-risk operators, the practical takeaway is straightforward: Russia is moving from broad tolerance toward a licensing-and-enforcement model, with crypto origin checks becoming part of the plumbing. That tends to change onboarding questions fast, even when the underground market does not vanish on schedule.