Sanctions could turn Russia into a market for tainted cryptocurrency

Sanctions may turn Russia into a place for trading dirty cryptocurrency at discounted prices, according to a key participant in its soon-to-be regulated market.

The country is poised to legalize coin transactions in September, but the assets circulating there are likely to be too toxic for other counterparties to touch.

Russia said to build an “exotic market for tainted cryptocurrency”

Western sanctions may result in the establishment of an isolated Russian market for digital assets that foreign players wouldn’t want to work with.

This means that the coins traded there will likely be offered at a discount to global prices, according to the chief executive of a leading Russian broker.

Vladislav Kochetkov, chairman of the management board of the financial group Finam, made the comments to Russia’s official TASS news agency.

Speaking ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), a major international conference to be held in the far-eastern city of Vladivostok next week, he stated:

“Sanctions could lead to Russia becoming a market for ‘tainted’ cryptocurrencies, that is, assets that have passed through restricted addresses or platforms and are therefore toxic to international counterparties.“

This could make the Russian market “extremely exotic,” featuring a significant discount to international benchmark rates, Kochetkov emphasized.

This is not just about being cut off from global liquidity. “It’s about the formation of a separate, isolated price circuit, operating by its own rules,” he elaborated.

Moscow to legalize cryptocurrency transactions on September 1

Finam intends to join the regulated Russian crypto market as a major participant, operating both as a broker and an exchange, its president said in excerpts of an interview published Thursday.

The nation is preparing to legalize crypto transactions such as investment and trading with a new law, “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights”, which was adopted by the Russian parliament in July.

The legislation, Moscow’s first attempt to comprehensively regulate the digital-asset sector, was signed by President Vladimir Putin in early August.

The main provisions of the nearly 300-page legal document will enter into force on September 1, 2026, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan. Discussing the matter, Vladislav Kochetkov unveiled:

“Yes, we plan to join the Russian cryptocurrency market, and as a leading player. In terms of roles … definitely, we will be a broker and a crypto exchanger.”

Finam was among the first Russian companies to offer crypto derivatives to qualified investors, alongside Sberbank and MOEX, after the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) allowed it in May 2025.

The new regulatory framework permits traditional firms, such as banks and brokers, to enter the coin space under their current licenses and act as intermediaries.

It also implements a licensing regime for crypto-specific platforms like existing exchange offices while introducing a new category of participants – “digital depositories.”

The latter will be responsible for safekeeping and accounting of crypto holdings. Domestic transactions will only be possible through authorized entities.

Finam is yet to decide whether it will set up its own depository, Kochetkov said in the interview with TASS, excerpts of which were published on Thursday and Friday.

“No decision has been made yet, and the reason is purely economic: it’s expensive,” he remarked, adding that such an investment would take at least 3 billion rubles ($35 million) and eight years to pay back.

Russian coin market to be “speculative, rigid and liquid”

The “digital currency” law will, for the first time, give non-professional investors in Russia a legal opportunity to put money into decentralized and fiat-pegged digital assets.

However, these will be only the most liquid and capitalized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as Tether’s stablecoin USDT. Besides, investments will be capped at less than $4,000 a year per intermediary.

Russia’s cryptocurrency market will be primarily speculative, rather than focused on acquiring crypto for settlements or storage in personal non-custodial wallets, believes the CEO of Finam, who noted:

“As usual, we are following our own path and departing from the classic crypto ideology of free movement of assets without intermediaries.”

Kochetkov is also convinced that while the Russian market will be built on “rigid architecture, unusual for cryptocurrency,” it will be “fully functional and liquid.”

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