Russia has approved a law on digital currency: the country is building two isolated payment circuits
Russian cryptocurrency regulation has finally taken concrete shape. The law "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" signed by the president comes into force on September 1, 2026, and it paints not just a new legal environment, but creates a unique two-circuit payment architecture with no analogues in the world.
Two circuits — two philosophies
The key feature of the Russian model is a strict division into internal and external circuits. Domestically, from September 1, 2026, mandatory acceptance of the digital ruble begins. This is a state retail currency that the United States has legislatively abandoned until the end of 2030, and Europe is only designing. The external circuit, by contrast, legalizes the circulation of private global assets, such as bitcoin and ether, for settlements under foreign trade contracts.
In essence, we are witnessing not just a regulatory decision, but an architectural choice. Domestically, the balance (money in the system) remains with the Bank of Russia, ensuring full traceability and independence from external infrastructure. Externally, an asset is used that is not issued by any of the transaction participants. This works where correspondent channels have become difficult to navigate due to external restrictions in recent years.
What changes for the market
The law introduces a new category of professional participants — digital depositories. They will maintain records of clients' crypto assets, keep primary and backup IT infrastructure in Russia, and compensate for damages in the event of unauthorized write-offs. Crypto exchanges with own funds of at least 15 million rubles obtain legal status and mandatory registration in the Bank of Russia registry from July 1, 2027.
Asset admission criteria for trading are enshrined in the law itself: capitalization above 5 trillion rubles, average daily turnover exceeding 1 trillion, and a trading history of at least five years. Today, only bitcoin and ether fall under these parameters. For non-qualified investors, a limit of 300 thousand rubles per year with one intermediary and mandatory testing are established.
Taxation arises upon sale, not upon holding: 13% on income up to 2.4 million rubles and 15% on amounts above that. The 3-NDFL declaration is filed before April 30. From July 1, 2027, banks are obliged to refuse transfers to unlicensed crypto services, which effectively closes the channel for funding foreign platforms through Russian banks.
Global context and conclusions
Countries' trajectories are diverging. China, from January 1, 2026, reclassified the digital yuan as a deposit obligation with interest accrual and deposit insurance, returning the balance to the banking system. India, by contrast, reduced the volume of the digital rupee by 24% over the fiscal year, while Brazil shut down the Drex platform, acknowledging unresolved privacy and security issues.
The digital ruble still looks modest — as of July 1, just over 25 million digital rubles were in circulation (about $320 thousand for the entire country). But in two months, acceptance will become mandatory for companies with revenue exceeding 120 million rubles, creating a forced flow from bank balances into central bank liabilities.
My conclusion: Russia is deliberately building two circuits not as two interfaces, but as two different data models. In one, the record is created by the platform operator; in the other, by the network, while the bank merely observes. The question of the next year and a half is not whether the circuits of different countries will align, but whether Russia will repeat China's maneuver and begin accruing income on digital ruble balances. The answer will be visible in the dynamics of the deposit base by the end of 2027.