Cryptoadvertising in Russia: a strange transition period begins on September 1
From September 1, 2026, advertising of services for organizing cryptocurrency circulation will be permitted in Russia for the first time in two years. However, the ban on advertising the digital currencies themselves remains in effect. This creates a unique and largely paradoxical situation in the market, which I have analyzed in this analytical material.
The logic of the 2024 ban
Until recently, the answer to the question about advertising cryptocurrencies and related services was extremely simple: not allowed. Since August 19, 2024, Federal Law No. 221-FZ introduced a broad ban — on advertising the digital currency itself, as well as goods, works, and services related to organizing its circulation. The wording turned out to be so broad that the effect quickly extended far beyond the exchangers themselves.
The example of mining is telling. In the same August 2024, the state effectively legalized this activity, established requirements for miners, and created a separate regulated regime for them. At the same time, Yandex.Direct updated its rules and banned advertising of mining, crypto exchangers, blockchain, smart contracts, ICOs, and a number of other services. The result was a strange effect: the state had just legalized mining, and the largest advertising platform banned advertising it almost at the same moment.
Today, Yandex's rules still allow advertising of equipment and cloud resources for mining, educational materials, events, and a number of related services. At the same time, crypto exchangers themselves and mining as an activity remain among the prohibited categories in Russian Direct rules. The market has not suffered too much from the ban over these two years. Even now, in public listings of exchangers, users are directly offered to buy and sell USDT, BTC, ETH, compare rates, and choose a specific service. Market participants continued to operate as if there were no advertising bans.
What changes in September
Now such a regime has appeared. Federal Law No. 282-FZ of 04.08.2026 "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights" and Federal Law No. 283-FZ of 04.08.2026 have been adopted. The first creates the regulated organization of cryptocurrency circulation itself and defines its legal participants. The second restructures a large number of related laws, including the Law on Advertising. Both laws were officially published on August 4, 2026.
As explained by Andrey Tugarin, managing partner of GMT Legal, from September 1, 2026, the ban on advertising the digital currency itself remains in effect. Advertising Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, or any other specific digital currency is still prohibited. You cannot make BTC the "asset of the week," offer to "buy USDT today," promise growth of a specific coin, or push a person to choose one cryptocurrency over another.
However, advertising services for organizing the circulation of digital currencies is now permitted. Unlike in 2024, the state has created a regulated framework: the rules for organizing circulation have been defined, and conditions have been established for obtaining the statuses of legal crypto exchangers, digital depositories, and other participants. Banning these participants from informing the market about their services, in the expert's opinion, would look strange. A separate permitted model for this is created by the new Article 29.2 of the Law on Advertising.
Tugarin emphasized that there is also a curious point. The new advertising conditions begin to apply already from September 1, 2026, and extend only to participants in cryptocurrency circulation from the Central Bank registry. At the same time, the full regime, under which only registry participants are entitled to organize circulation, is activated only from July 1, 2027.
Exchangers can operate under the old rules until that date, but the new advertising conditions do not apply to such players — they are not in the registry, which the Central Bank itself has not yet opened. From September 1, the market enters an unusual transitional period. The new advertising rules already exist, but the new admission infrastructure is only being launched. As of August, the Bank of Russia published draft procedures for maintaining registries and other necessary acts. This is not a complete legal vacuum — the law specifically provided for transitional mechanisms — but a certain regulatory desynchronization is obvious here.
My view: The market is entering a phase of duality, when advertising of services is formally permitted, but in fact there are almost no legal advertisers. This creates a window of opportunity for unscrupulous players who may take advantage of legal uncertainty. I recommend that market participants refrain from aggressive advertising campaigns until the full launch of the Central Bank registry and the appearance of clear clarifications from the regulator.