Russia locks crypto into depositories: P2P deals banned from 1 July 2027

In brief

• The basis is Law 282-FZ of 4 August 2026, in force since 1 September 2026. The Bank of Russia updated its explanations on its website on 12 October.
• From 1 July 2027 direct crypto deals between individuals (P2P) drop out of the list of permitted operations. Buying and selling will be possible only through licensed brokers and exchangers.
• Withdrawing cryptocurrency from an account in a Russian digital depository to your own non-custodial wallet is not allowed. This applies now, with no grace period.
• From a depository, coins may be sent only to the address of a foreign organisation authorised to do so in its own country, and only after a test and a risk notice.
• Owning cryptocurrency is not banned. Everything already in your wallets remains yours.

What the Bank of Russia said

Asked whether individuals may deal in digital currency directly, without intermediaries, the regulator answered: yes, but only until 1 July 2027. The list of operations permitted without organisations that run crypto circulation is set by Article 30 of the law. From that date it does not include deals between individuals.

Asked whether one may transfer cryptocurrency from one's account in a Russian depository to one's own wallet, where you hold the keys, the answer was negative: such a transfer is not allowed under Article 31 of the law. The way out of the depository opens in one direction only: to the address of a foreign organisation entitled to service such operations under its own country's laws. Before that you must pass a test and sign a risk notice.

There is a third detail that gets less attention. Transferring cryptocurrency to another individual at addresses kept by the depository is also not allowed, even to settle a deal. The depository becomes a room with one door, and the intermediary holds the key.

What this means for you. If you put cryptocurrency into a Russian depository, you can no longer take it back to your own wallet. Decide where to keep coins before they go in.

What is allowed and what is not

I have put the regulator's answers and the provisions of the law into one table.

Why it is worse than it looks

The official logic is clear: remove grey exchangers that carry fraudulent money and bring the market into the light. But look at how it is done. Cryptocurrency is valuable because the owner controls it. The law and the explanations keep the formal right to own, but take away the right to dispose: you cannot sell to a neighbour, withdraw to yourself or transfer to a friend. What remains is buying from an intermediary and selling to an intermediary.

The second problem is money. From 1 July 2027 banks, according to reports on the regulator's explanations, must refuse transfers if they suspect the recipient is running an illegal exchange. In practice this means card blocks for any regular transfers that resemble P2P. Such blocks under anti-money-laundering law already hit honest people, and from 2027 there will be more of them.

The third problem is tax. Under bill 617-9, income from selling digital currency and from mining is proposed to be taxed from 2027 on the general scale up to 22%; details in the analysis of the up-to-22% tax on passive income. Through an intermediary every deal will be visible to the tax authority. Accounting as such is fair, but combined with the bans it produces a system in which crypto in Russia becomes an ordinary brokerage asset with tax and without freedom.

What this means for you. Cryptocurrency in Russia stops being an alternative to a bank. It becomes another account with an intermediary, only with bitcoin's volatility.

What to do before leaving

I do not urge anyone to get around the law. I advise doing what is lawful now and what will make life abroad much easier.

1. Do not put into a Russian depository what you want to keep yourself. There is no way back to your own wallet. If you need the coins abroad, decide this before buying them through a Russian intermediary.
2. Collect the history of origin. Exchange statements, purchase dates and prices, wallet addresses, mining reports. A foreign bank and a residence programme will ask where the money came from, and "I bought in 2017" without documents will not work.
3. Declare your income. If you sold cryptocurrency at a profit while a Russian tax resident, the tax must be paid. A clean tax history is the main argument at a bank.
4. Choose a country with a clear crypto tax in advance. In the UAE there is no tax on individuals' crypto income; Cyprus and Portugal have their own rates and holding periods. Check not only the rate but whether a local bank will accept the proceeds of selling coins.
5. If you plan P2P deals, complete them before 1 July 2027 and keep the evidence: agreements, correspondence, bank statements.

How to prove the source of funds with cryptocurrency for residence we covered using the examples of Cyprus permanent residence and the Vanuatu passport. On the link between tax residence and cryptocurrency, see the piece on tax residence.

Where crypto holders are looking

Clients most often come to me with three destinations. The UAE: zero tax on individuals' crypto income and a regulator that licenses exchanges. Cyprus: the EU, a clear tax residence regime and banks that work with crypto money when the history is clean. For those who need a back-up passport and banking access without moving at once, Vanuatu, but the passport does not change tax residence in Russia.

Rates by country: crypto tax in the UAE, crypto tax in Cyprus, crypto tax in Portugal. How to prove the origin of funds for permanent residence is covered in the article on source of funds, and how to obtain residence in Dubai in the review of all UAE residence routes for Russians.

The choice depends not on the rate but on where a bank will open an account for the proceeds of selling coins. That is the first question I ask a client.

Depository and wallet in plain words

Three notions have got mixed up in the news, and because of that many people fear more than they should.

• A Russian digital depository is an organisation that by law holds a client's cryptocurrency and keeps records, the way a broker keeps records of shares. It holds the keys to the coins, not you.
• A custodial wallet is any wallet where an intermediary holds the keys: an exchange, an exchanger, a depository. You see the balance, but you dispose of it through the intermediary.
• A non-custodial wallet is your own wallet where only you hold the keys: a hardware device or an app with a seed phrase. It is to such a wallet that withdrawal from a Russian depository is not allowed.

The Bank of Russia's explanation concerns leaving the depository, not wallets as such. If coins already sit in your own wallet and have never entered a Russian depository, this explanation does not affect them. But there is also no lawful way to bring them into the Russian system and later withdraw them back to yourself.

What this means for you. The line runs not between "crypto" and "not crypto" but between coins inside a Russian depository and coins in your own hands.

How banks will look for P2P

From 1 July 2027 banks, according to reports on the regulator's explanations, must refuse transfers if they suspect the recipient is running an illegal crypto exchange. The law does not spell out how a bank will determine this, but the signs are known from current anti-money-laundering practice.

• many incoming transfers from different people in a short time;
• round sums that are immediately sent on;
• card turnover unlike the owner's salary and normal spending;
• transfers with notes or towards people the bank has already flagged as suspicious.

An ordinary person who sold coins a couple of times and received money from different buyers can easily match these signs. That is why I advise completing such deals before summer 2027 and keeping the evidence: agreements, correspondence, statements.

What this means for you. After 1 July 2027 even an honest one-off sale of coins "by hand" may end in a blocked card. Better not to test it on yourself.

If you have already left

Law 282-FZ regulates the circulation of digital currency in Russia and operations through Russian intermediaries. If you live abroad, keep coins in your own wallet or at a foreign exchange and do not use Russian depositories, there are fewer direct changes for you. But two questions remain: tax residence, which decides where and at what rate you pay on a sale, and the source of funds, which any foreign bank will ask about. Both are worth going through with a lawyer before a large sale, not after a letter from the bank asking you to explain an incoming payment.

My conclusion

The Bank of Russia has not banned cryptocurrency. It has made sure it cannot be used without an intermediary. For an investor who keeps coins on an exchange and does not plan to move them, little will change. For someone who valued crypto for its freedom and plans to live abroad, the clock has started: withdrawal from the depository is closed today, and P2P closes in eight and a half months. Anyone planning to leave should not wait for summer 2027 and should put their documents in order now.

How this piece was prepared

This piece is based on Law 282-FZ of 4 August 2026 "On digital currencies and digital rights", the cryptocurrency Q&A section of the Bank of Russia website as updated on 12 October 2026, bill 617-9 and our practice in checking the source of funds for residence and citizenship programmes. It is not legal or tax advice.