Overview
- The State Duma Financial Market Committee endorsed a revised government-backed crypto bill for a substantive second reading on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, moving the text closer to final votes in the Duma and review by the Federation Council and president.
- The draft formally classifies cryptocurrencies as property, which would give owners legal protections in cases such as bankruptcy, insolvency and family-law disputes.
- Lawmakers kept a ban on using crypto for payments inside Russia but would permit cryptocurrencies for foreign trade, cross-border settlements, and to buy Russian securities and tokenized digital financial assets (DFAs).
- Privacy rules were eased by removing a mandatory wallet-address disclosure and replacing it with requirements to report wallet balances and transaction volumes to regulators.
- The bill preserves a 300,000-ruble annual retail purchase limit for non-qualified investors and adds a power to freeze certain large overseas or third-party transfers for up to two days while leaving key details and Bank of Russia licensing guidance to be set later.