On April 1, 2026, the Russian government submitted three bills to the State Duma that establish a fundamentally new legal framework for the digital currency and digital rights markets and eliminate the circulation of digital assets “in a legal gray area.”
Bill No. 1194918-8 is the main bill and provides for the adoption of a separate federal law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” which will in many respects replace the current Law on Digital Financial Assets. As noted in the explanatory memorandum to the bill, it was drafted to implement Recommendation 15 of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Among other things, the bill provides for:
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the unification of regulations governing the circulation of digital currencies and digital rights;
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the establishment of requirements for digital currency operators, exchanges, brokers, depositories, trustees, and exchange services that constitute the infrastructure of the digital currency and digital rights market;
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rules for the admission of unqualified investors to the digital currency and digital rights market.
The main provisions of the bill, if adopted, will take effect as early as July 1, 2026.
Bill No. 1194929-8 provides for amendments to numerous individual federal laws, including the Securities Market Law, the AML/CFT Law, the Bankruptcy Law, the Law on Enforcement Proceedings, and others, with the aim of “aligning” the regulation of digital currencies and digital rights with related provisions of other laws.
Bill No. 1194944-8 provides for the inclusion of a new article in the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation establishing administrative liability for violations of legislation governing the circulation of digital currency.
The draft laws, among other things, reflect the proposals of the Bank of Russia set forth in the Concept for the Regulation of Cryptocurrencies, which we wrote about earlier.
We are preparing a detailed overview of the provisions of the draft laws.
