Bank of Russia calls crypto a source of cash of “unidentified origin” as it prepares AML rule changes

The Bank of Russia is moving on two fronts at once: it wants to tighten anti-money laundering controls around cash and banking flows, and it is preparing checks for crypto that comes from the “unregulated circuit.” For high-risk payment businesses, the point is straightforward: Russia’s regulator is not treating crypto as a side issue, but as part of the same laundering pipeline it wants banks to police.

1. According to the head of the financial monitoring service, cash is being used as one way to bypass control procedures, and the main risk is that banks can turn into a channel for legalizing funds of “unidentified origin.” The central bank is preparing a document that will cover all typologies of suspicious transactions, including deposits to accounts and conversion operations.
2. The Bank of Russia will not stop at guidance to banks. It plans to amend anti-money laundering legislation, with the official saying the changes will come “in the near future.” The text does not give a date, but the direction is clear: this is headed for a legal, not just supervisory, reset.
3. The regulator also plans to identify “dirty crypto,” meaning coins whose provenance needs to be checked before they move through Russian infrastructure. Russian depositories and exchanges will have to verify the source history of coins arriving from the “unregulated circuit,” although the official said there is still no unified verification system in place.
4. In the regulator’s language, crypto should undergo “marking” — a check to determine whether it was obtained through criminal means. The same screening will apply to crypto wallets. To do that, the Bank of Russia expects to use a special platform called Transparent Blockchain.
5. The central bank also expects that after 1 July next year it will be possible to eliminate all crypto exchangers that do not want to obtain permission to operate. That date is when the government law on state control of crypto will finally enter into force.

For PSPs, acquirers, and banks touching Russia-linked flows, the practical read-through is that crypto screening and AML controls are converging. If a business handles cash-in, conversion, or crypto-to-fiat movement, the compliance question is no longer just “is this customer on our list?” It is increasingly “can we explain where the money, or the coins, came from?”