The Central Bank of the Russian Federation introduces oversight for misselling in cryptocurrency sales: silence about risks will become punishable.
The Bank of Russia has announced the launch of mandatory monitoring of misselling practices in the segment of digital currencies and financial instruments. The regulator intends to strictly suppress cases where financial organizations sell one product under the guise of another or deliberately conceal key features and risks of an asset. This statement came amid the upcoming start of retail cryptocurrency sales through licensed intermediaries on September 1.
Deputy Head of the agency Mikhail Mamuta emphasized that control over the quality of informing buyers will become a priority task from the very beginning of the new market's operation. According to him, at the first stage it is especially important to check how honestly and fully organizations disclose risks, rather than just potential returns.
The filters already built into the rules, including mandatory testing of buyers' knowledge and limits on transaction amounts depending on the level of risk, remain in force. However, as the regulator rightly notes, these barriers do not guarantee that the client will not be "fed" distorted information during the sale. Therefore, the Central Bank adds its own oversight of sellers' behavior to the formal restrictions, promising to punish violations. At the same time, it expresses hope that it will not come to sanctions.
What lies behind the new rules
Let me remind you that in August the president signed a law that for the first time comprehensively regulates the circulation of digital currencies and digital rights in Russia. The document establishes rules for crypto exchanges, depositories, and other market participants, as well as defines the conditions for purchasing crypto for investors. The regulation covers the organization of circulation, accounting, storage, mining, and issuance of digital instruments, as well as the activities of information system operators and exchange services.
For unqualified buyers, the Central Bank has set a limit of 300,000 rubles per year at each intermediary. At the same time, as experts note, distributing transactions among different licensed platforms remains a legal way to bypass this threshold, which creates a potential "gray zone" that the regulator will have to close.
Industry participants see the law more as an institutionalization of the market rather than its legalization in a consumer sense. The Central Bank's by-laws — testing criteria, registry procedures, requirements for depositories — will determine the actual strictness of the rules more than the text of the law itself. There also remain controversial provisions, such as Article 30, which allows issuing digital currencies as loans only to a narrow circle of organizations, excluding miners and private holders of large portfolios from this list.
My analysis: The Central Bank's initiative is a logical step to protect retail investors, but its effectiveness will depend on the quality of oversight and the speed of response to new circumvention schemes. The market has already shown that it can adapt to any restrictions, so the regulator faces a constant arms race rather than a one-time "tightening of the screws." In the long term, this is a positive signal for legal players, but for those accustomed to working in the gray zone, hard times are coming.