Russia’s legal crypto market could turn into a “stained crypto” market, Finam says

Russia may end up with a separate crypto market made up of digital assets that have passed through addresses or venues hit by international sanctions, according to Vladislav Kochetkov, president and chairman of investment group Finam. For payment firms and crypto businesses, the point is not just liquidity: sanctioned exposure can turn an asset into something foreign counterparties treat as toxic.

1. Kochetkov said these assets would be “stained crypto” — digital assets that have gone through sanctioned addresses or platforms. In practice, that means higher compliance risk for foreign counterparties and, as he put it, a likely need to trade them at a discount to global prices.
2. He told TASS that this could make the Russian market “extremely exotic,” with a substantial discount to international benchmarks. His view is that this would not be just a case of “liquidity getting switched off,” but the formation of a separate, isolated price circuit with its own rules.
3. Under that scenario, the “Russian circuit” would operate autonomously, with its own pricing mechanisms and operating rules, different from those used on the international market, Kochetkov said.
4. The backdrop is already there: earlier, Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Bank of Russia, said the regulator is considering the use of stablecoins in international settlements, but only as a complement to the digital ruble. She also said the regulator views these assets “with caution” and described crypto as an asset that can be hit by international sanctions and blocked in Russian wallets at any moment.
5. Separately, trading in cryptocurrency through licensed intermediaries is due to start in Russia on 1 September. The Bank of Russia plans to allow only three digital assets for those trades: bitcoin, ether, and Tether’s dollar stablecoin USDT.