President Vladimir Putin has signed Russia’s first comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation, establishing a legal framework that permits cryptocurrency trading while maintaining a prohibition on using digital assets for payments.
The law creates a distinction between two categories of cryptocurrency activity. Trading in digital assets is now legal under the new framework. Cryptocurrency payments, however, remain banned.
The legislation represents Russia’s first attempt to codify crypto regulation at the federal level, moving beyond prior ambiguity about the legal status of digital currencies in the country.
The law does not specify which cryptocurrencies or trading mechanisms fall under the legal permission, nor does it detail enforcement mechanisms or penalties for violations of the payments prohibition.
