Russia to Ban Direct P2P Crypto Trades From July 2027

Russia will stop individuals from trading crypto directly with one another from July 1, 2027. From that date, residents may only buy and sell digital assets through, or directly with, companies licensed by the Bank of Russia, according to the central bank's own guidance.

The cut-off appears in the regulator's FAQ on crypto market development. Peer-to-peer trades, where one person sends rubles to another and receives coins in return, drop off the list of operations residents can carry out without a licensed intermediary. The same page carries a registry of authorized operators dated 16 October 2026.

Article 30 Sets Out What Changes

Federal Law No. 282-FZ, "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights," is the basis. President Vladimir Putin signed it on August 4 and it took effect on September 1, with the official publication logged on pravo.gov.ru. Article 30 lists the crypto operations residents may carry out without an intermediary. From July 2027, that list no longer includes trades between individuals.

The result is that crypto trading in Russia moves onto licensed rails. Residents may deal only through, or directly with, companies that "organize the circulation" of digital currencies, mainly brokers and exchange organizations sitting on the central bank's registry.

Self-Custody Sits Outside the New Rules

The FAQ answers a question many self-custody users would ask. Moving crypto from a digital account to your own non-custodial wallet is not allowed, the page states, citing part 9 of Article 31. Passing assets to another person through addresses run by a depository is out too.

Lending gets the same treatment. Only brokers, trustees, exchange organizations and clearing houses can be the lender in a crypto loan, under part 4 of Article 30. An ordinary holder cannot lend coins out.

Sberbank Joins the Register Before Its December Launch

The registry is the part of this story we have covered before. Sberbank joined the central bank's list of organizations authorized to exchange digital currencies on October 12, after an earlier place on the custodian list. It plans to launch its first crypto products on December 1.

The register also holds state lenders such as VTB, among others. Banks and other organizations were able to apply to the central bank for the matching licenses from October 5. Exchanges and digital depositories carry the same July 1, 2027 date to obtain their licenses.

Retail Buyers Face a Test and a Yearly Cap

Non-qualified investors, meaning people without professional investor status, have to pass a test and can buy up to 300,000 rubles (roughly $3,600) of crypto a year. Qualified investors face no cap. For non-qualified buyers, the central bank's list runs to three coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.

What the Deadline Leaves Open

Enforcement is the open question. Industry executives have argued that restrictions on peer-to-peer trading and on non-custodial wallets are hard to police, since a transfer between two wallets leaves no intermediary to check. Whether the ban changes behaviour or pushes trading further out of sight is not something the FAQ settles.

One reading, from a lawyer who advises crypto firms, is that from the same date Russian banks would have to turn away clients trying to fund crypto wallets on foreign platforms, and could not accept rubles cashed out from them. That is a legal interpretation of the rules, not a settled instruction.

Payments stay blocked at home. The law keeps the ban on paying for goods and services with digital assets, while allowing crypto to be used in foreign trade settlements.

Two numbers reported alongside the story do not line up, and neither is settled: accounts of how many firms the operator register holds differ, and the dollar equivalent of the 300,000-ruble cap varies slightly depending on the conversion used.