The Central Bank limit of 300,000 rubles: a legal way to bypass the restriction through multiple intermediaries
The annual limit of 300,000 rubles on cryptocurrency purchases set by the Central Bank does not act as a cumulative restriction for the investor, but rather as a threshold for each individual counterparty. This opens up a formally legal opportunity for large investments: distributing transactions among multiple banks, brokers, and exchanges.
For most non-qualified investors, the established amount is quite sufficient for everyday operations. However, when it comes to more substantial capital, the regulatory framework allows purchases to be split up. The mechanics are simple: the limit is tied to each intermediary individually, not to the client's total transaction volume for the year. This means an investor can turn to several licensed platforms, and each one will treat them as a separate client with its own threshold.
What the limit protects and why it benefits intermediaries
On one hand, this format formally shields inexperienced investors from volatility—exactly what the regulator declares. On the other, it gives intermediaries time to establish their cryptocurrency operations and prepare the necessary infrastructure and specialists. It is a kind of transition period for the market.
There is also an indirect effect: client funds are distributed across different depositories, which reduces the risks of sanctions. For BTC and ETH, freezing at the blockchain level is technically unfeasible, but risks of coin labeling remain. This is an important nuance worth considering when choosing a strategy.
A separate issue is the lack of cross-platform data exchange. There is currently no unified system that would consolidate a client's operations across different intermediaries. Information is confidential and is only transmitted to the regulator in cases of suspicious activity. This opens the door for abuse: a client can present the same source-of-funds documents to different intermediaries, and each intermediary is responsible for verifying them itself.
Enforcing the limit within a single intermediary also falls on its shoulders. The company monitors compliance with the threshold through internal reporting and accounting systems—a process that is fairly transparent to the regulator.
What cross-platform tracking will change
Tracking client activity by taxpayer identification number (TIN) in the future will give the regulator far more transparency. Most likely, this will be followed by the introduction of a cumulative limit across all platforms at once. For now, however, no official system for such desk-based control exists.
Economists agree that distributing transactions among different licensed intermediaries remains a legal way to buy cryptocurrency in amounts exceeding 300,000 rubles per year, since the restriction mechanism itself raises no objections to such operations.
For everyday expenses, this amount is quite sufficient, but it will not stretch to a car or overseas real estate. Qualified investors are unaffected by the new rules: the restrictions do not apply to those who meet educational and professional requirements or have passed special testing.
My view: the current structure of the limit is a temporary measure that creates an illusion of control but does not solve the task of investor protection. As soon as the regulator implements cross-platform tracking, the ability to split transactions will disappear, and the market will face a real restriction. For now, though, this is a window of opportunity for those willing to act within the law but with a greater appetite for risk.