Russia’s crypto law is being rewritten for second reading: licensing starts in 2027, banks get pre-emptive block rules

Russia’s crypto bill has picked up a lot of new machinery before its second reading. The key dates now matter: general rules take effect on 1 September 2026, while mandatory licensing for exchangers and bank-side blocking rules start on 1 July 2027. For PSPs, acquirers, banks, and crypto businesses, the draft now reads less like a framework and more like an operating manual with a regulator on every page.

1. The law now spells out what licensed crypto exchangers must have in place, and the bar is not low. To qualify, an exchanger needs at least 2 transactions per month in total and more than 3.5 million rubles in turnover, plus core and backup hardware in Russia, software for accounting and antifraud controls, access to databases under 115-FZ and 161-FZ, membership in a self-regulatory organization (SRO), requirements for managers and founders, and capital of 15 million rubles. The infrastructure also has to be coordinated with the FSB and FSTEC.
2. Licensed exchangers will also face audits and regular reporting to the Central Bank under article 44. In other words, the bill is turning exchanger compliance into a full-stack obligation: infrastructure, governance, controls, reporting, and external oversight. That is the sort of setup that filters out hobby operators very quickly.
3. Banks are being pushed into pre-emptive blocking. Financial institutions will have to refuse transfers if they suspect the recipient is organizing illegal crypto circulation, including payments to Russian legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, and foreign persons. The point is not just post-fact enforcement; it is to stop transfers before the money lands.
4. The draft also introduces a 48-hour cooling-off period for transfers to other wallets: above 300,000 rubles within Russia and above 100,000 rubles abroad for non-qualified investors. That creates a practical gate between the customer and the transaction, which matters a lot for any PSP or bank touching wallet-funded flows.
5. Individuals are being cut off from direct access to foreign exchanges through banks. The only remaining path goes through foreign trade operations and Russian brokers, if the Bank of Russia allows it. In practice, that leaves brokers and legal exchangers as the main channels into the foreign crypto environment.

One more detail that matters operationally: the transition period is still running, but on 1 July current criminal liability for illegal organization of circulation applies, and on 1 September 2026 the law itself takes effect, along with the end of the transition period for exchangers to meet the full set of requirements, including antifraud controls and the 48-hour freeze.