Russia moves to criminalise unlicensed crypto operations; experts weigh risks for exchangers.
The government’s commission on legislative activity has approved a bill introducing criminal liability for unlawful cryptocurrency operations, reports RIA Novosti.
ForkLog spoke to experts about who will be affected first, the risks for exchangers, and whether the new regulatory model can displace the existing grey segment.
Context
A new Article 171.7 is proposed for Russia’s Criminal Code—on the unlawful organisation of the circulation of digital currency. It would penalise the organisation of digital-currency circulation without registration or a Bank of Russia licence.
The measures were first disclosed earlier by Bank of Russia deputy governor Vladimir Chistyukhin.
Penalties will depend on the scale of damage. The basic offence provides for a fine of up to 300,000 roubles, compulsory labour or up to four years’ imprisonment.
With aggravating circumstances, including if the act is committed by a group or on an especially large scale, the term can rise to seven years, and the fine to 1m roubles.
Damage of 3.5m roubles or more would be deemed large; from 13.5m roubles, especially large.
The amendments will form part of the bill “On digital currency and digital rights”, which could enter into force on July 1, 2026.
Who faces punishment
Olga Zakharova, director of the legal department at PLAN B, stressed that penalties will not apply to one-off crypto exchanges—in other words, not to ordinary users of digital assets.
Unlawful circulation is understood as activity to organise the circulation of virtual currency, including:
- services for record-keeping of cryptocurrencies and executing transactions with them;
- any other services that organise their circulation—if Russian infrastructure is used.
At risk are not only exchangers but any services that accompany transactions or provide infrastructure, Zakharova explained. The law will affect even foreign companies if they use Russian bank accounts, electronic money or elements of the national payment system.
The main risk for exchangers
The core problem for the market is not criminal liability per se, but how easy it will be to trigger it, says Ignat Likhunov, founder of the Cartesius legal agency.
He pointed to the 3.5m-rouble threshold. For the crypto market, this is a relatively small sum.
“That is, roughly speaking, if an exchanger bought, say, 40,000 USDT or 50,000 USDT, which are considered crypto, incurred expenses, and then sold them at a higher price, earning 1% for himself, it turns out he has already exceeded the 3.5m threshold and built the elements of the basic offence,” the expert explained.
This means even standard operations may formally fall under the criminal article.
Likhunov noted an additional risk tied to qualifying the activity as work by a group of persons. In his words, almost any exchanger is a small organisation: there is an operator, a manager, a head, sometimes couriers.
In such a set-up, the business can fall under more serious offences with maximum terms.
Why the measures
Experts broadly agree this is not a one-off punitive initiative but an attempt to bring the crypto market into a regulated framework.
Andrey Tugarin, founder of the law firm GMT Legal, noted that the key task of the new package of bills is to regulate organisers of digital-currency circulation. First and foremost, these are crypto exchangers, though the circle is wider.
“In Russia, at last, from the stage of the grey zone there will appear a legal and an illegal stage. And there will be nothing in between in this regard. The new law will provide an opportunity to acquire legal status in order to begin activity on organising the circulation of cryptocurrency in the Russian Federation,” he said.
Likhunov expressed a similar view. In his words, criminal liability did not appear suddenly; it was initially part of the same package as the licensing bills. Now it is the turn of sanctions.
“This is an absolutely normal, clear, logical chain of events when we are talking about the start of regulating a market in principle,” the interlocutor stressed.
Zakharova also linked the amendments to the forthcoming law “On digital currency and digital rights”. These measures, like the previously proposed amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences on crypto exchange and illegal mining, are intended to ensure compliance with the rules that the new basic law will set.
Can the legal market replace the one that exists?
Likhunov called “most interesting” the question of where the existing market will go after licensing starts.
He referred to the framework bill and comments by Central Bank representatives, from which it follows that the regulator sees the future model via digital depositories, brokers, operators and licensed crypto exchangers.
However, there is still no clarity on many key aspects. For example, it is unclear whether licensed participants will be able to work with USDT—the main asset in crypto turnover today.
Restrictions are also being discussed:
- a possible ban on cash operations;
- limits for non-qualified investors.
According to the expert, if such restrictions are introduced, the legal market will be too narrow and will not meet real business needs.
Likhunov offered a practical example: with limits and restrictions, users may simply be unable to buy the volumes of crypto needed for settlements, for instance in foreign economic activity.
“There will be two parallel worlds. One like the one that exists now, and a second—licensed,” he summed up.
In February, Russia approved a concept for tokenising assets.
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