The adoption of the cryptocurrency law in Russia is being postponed again: what is behind the delay
Bill No. 1194918-8 "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights," which barely passed its first reading in the State Duma on April 21, will not be adopted by the planned deadline of July 1. This information was officially confirmed on the sidelines of the PMLEF-2026 by Alexei Yakovlev, Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance.
According to him, the entire conceptual part of the document is already ready, and a meeting of the relevant State Duma committee is expected soon, after which the second reading will follow. However, it is no longer realistic to make it by July 1. "We'll adopt it around that time," Yakovlev remarked laconically, hinting at a shift in deadlines to late summer or early autumn.
What does the bill propose?
The document lays the fundamental legal framework for the circulation of digital currencies in Russia. Individuals and legal entities will be allowed to officially purchase cryptocurrency, but exclusively through certified operators. The list of authorized intermediaries will include specialized exchange services from the Central Bank's register, licensed brokers, and official trust managers. At the same time, the use of tokens for paying for goods and services within the country will remain strictly prohibited.
Initially, the Central Bank planned to launch the new rules on July 1 and prepare the accompanying by-laws during the third quarter. The first fully legal transactions were expected in the last quarter of the year. Now this timeline is shifting.
The market anticipated the delay
Insider information about the postponement of deadlines circulated in the blockchain community long before the official statements from the Ministry of Finance. For example, Sergei Mendeleev, founder of the Exved platform, noted in his personal blog on June 22 that discussion of the crypto initiative had been quietly removed from the work plan of the parliamentary committee, although a meeting was scheduled for the next day.
Mendeleev believes it would be advisable to return the bill's text to the first reading stage. This would allow the new composition of deputies to finalize the document during the autumn session. Otherwise, the expert summarized, the industry will again face the old problems that previously arose during the legalization of miners' activities.
Let me remind you that Sergei Mendeleev actively participated in the discussion of future rules for regulating cryptocurrency in Russia. According to him, the bill's authors ignored proposals from experienced representatives of the crypto industry, which led to the need for a second revision.
My analysis: Another delay is not a coincidence but a symptom of a systemic problem. Russian authorities are trying to combine the incompatible: create a legal cryptocurrency market for investments while completely excluding their use as a means of payment. This hybrid approach requires fine legal tuning, for which legislators, apparently, currently lack both time and expertise. The autumn session will be decisive: either we will see a working law, or the process will drag on for another year.