Advertising of crypto services in Russia: a paradoxical transition period between prohibition and legalization
Starting 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 digital currencies themselves remains in place. This creates a unique legal collision, which I will analyze from the perspective of a market analyst.
Until recently, the answer to the question of advertising cryptocurrencies and related services was extremely simple: it is prohibited. Federal Law No. 221-FZ of August 19, 2024, introduced a broad ban — on advertising digital currency itself, as well as goods, works, and services related to organizing its circulation. The wording proved so comprehensive that not only exchangers but also adjacent segments came under fire.
The example of mining is telling. In August 2024, the state effectively legalized this activity, establishing requirements for miners and creating 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. An absurd situation arose: the state allowed mining, while the largest advertising platform banned its promotion at the same moment. Today, Yandex's rules permit advertising of equipment and cloud resources for mining, but exchangers themselves and mining as an activity remain on the stop list.
The market, however, was not overly concerned about these restrictions. In public listings of exchangers, users are directly offered to buy and sell USDT, BTC, ETH, compare rates, and choose a service. Market participants operated as if advertising bans did not exist at all.
Why the 2024 ban was logical
From a legal standpoint, the ban was quite justified: at that time, Russia completely lacked regulation of organizing cryptocurrency circulation. The state effectively prohibited advertising what had no legal regime — until the relevant regulatory framework emerged.
What changes in September
Now such a framework has emerged. Federal Law No. 282-FZ of August 4, 2026, "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights," and Federal Law No. 283-FZ of August 4, 2026, were adopted. The first creates a regulated framework for organizing cryptocurrency circulation and defines its legal participants. The second restructures related laws, including the Advertising Law. Both documents were officially published on August 4, 2026.
Starting September 1, 2026, the ban on advertising digital currency itself remains: it is prohibited to advertise Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, or any other specific cryptocurrency. It is forbidden to make BTC the "asset of the week," offer to "buy USDT today," or promise growth of a specific coin. However, advertising of services for organizing circulation is now permitted — unlike in 2024, the state has created a regulated framework: rules are defined, conditions are established for obtaining the statuses of legal crypto exchangers, digital depositories, and other participants. It would be strange to prohibit these players from informing the market about their services. For this purpose, a separate Article 29.2 of the Advertising Law was created.
Here lies the main nuance. The new advertising conditions take effect as early as September 1, 2026, but apply only to circulation participants from the Central Bank's registry. The full regime, under which only registry participants are entitled to organize circulation, activates only on 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.
The market enters an unusual transitional period: new rules already exist, but the new licensing 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 regulatory inconsistency is obvious.
My conclusion: this transitional period creates a window of opportunity for gray schemes and simultaneously stimulates early preparation for legal status. Market participants who manage to integrate into the Central Bank's registry before July 2027 will gain a significant competitive advantage. For the rest — there are risks of being left out of legal advertising, which, amid growing institutional interest in the crypto market, could prove fatal.