Russia’s FSB wants crypto exchanges and gaming platforms to install SORM for client data access

The Federal Security Service of Russia is moving to require cryptocurrency exchanges and online gaming platforms to install SORM (System for Operative Investigative Activities) equipment, which gives law enforcement round-the-clock remote access to user data. For high-risk payments, the point is simple: if this goes ahead, crypto and gaming merchants in Russia will face a much deeper surveillance layer tied directly to traffic, metadata, and payment data.

1. At a May presentation by FSB spokesman Alexander Samoilov at the Conference of Russian Communications Operators (CROS), the agency set out plans to obligate crypto exchanges and online gaming platforms to install SORM equipment. The Bell, which noticed the presentation only now, reported on it.
2. SORM lets the security services monitor and analyze internet traffic in real time, store user metadata and materials, and link IP addresses, logins, social media pages, and payment data. In practice, that means customer records and payment activity can be pulled into a broader surveillance framework, not kept in separate silos.
3. The FSB had already proposed in 2022 that crypto exchanges be required to hand over client data, but then without mandatory SORM installation. This time, the presentation suggests the agency sees crypto exchanges and gaming platforms as functionally similar to social networks, and wants the same requirements to apply to the largest banks, which are already required to install SORM and provide access to client data.
4. In June, the maximum fine for refusing to install SORM equipment was raised to 10 million rubles. Russian telecom operators that have not agreed their SORM installation plan with Roskomnadzor have stopped getting new licenses and renewals.
5. The FSB had earlier been suggested in Russia’s Civic Chamber as the body to investigate illegal cryptocurrency transactions and help shut down underground crypto exchanges. Officials say such services can be used by fraudsters to launder proceeds from crime.