On October 15, 2026, the Bank of Russia’s cryptocurrency market page showed a new regulatory clarification under Federal Law 282-FZ. The individual answers are dated October 12. The central change has a fixed deadline: direct crypto trades between individuals are permitted only until July 1, 2027.
The Bank of Russia guidance ties that deadline to Article 30 of the law. It says the list of crypto transactions that residents may conduct without an organization handling circulation will no longer include direct person-to-person trades from July 1, 2027. The answer is explicit that P2P transactions remain possible before the cutoff and are excluded after it.
The rule applies to residents who are not themselves authorized organizers of crypto circulation. After the cutoff, those residents may transact only through an authorized organizer or directly with one. The guidance does not describe a grace period beyond July 1, 2027. It also does not give a separate exception for a trade arranged privately between two individuals.
Which intermediaries remain available
The Bank of Russia points to Chapter 4 of Federal Law 282-FZ for the types of entities that count as organizers. Its guidance names two relevant routes: a broker and an organization that exchanges digital currencies.
The broker route is limited to a professional securities-market participant operating under a Bank of Russia license. The exchange route is limited to an organization entered in the corresponding Bank of Russia register. The regulator determines a company’s eligibility from its license or register entry.
The central bank says its website carries registers of supervised organizations. It also points users to its financial-market participant checking service for general information about a firm. For a user or payments operator, this makes intermediary verification part of the transaction process. After the cutoff, a venue offering ruble-to-crypto trading must have the status required under the law.
The guidance does not name individual brokers or exchange organizations in the clarification itself. It directs readers to the live registers instead. That leaves the set of usable firms dependent on the regulator’s records rather than on a static list in the FAQ. Operators planning a Russian retail route will need to check those records before offering or routing a transaction.
The two authorized routes have different status tests. A broker must already be a professional participant in the securities market and must hold a license issued by the Bank of Russia. A crypto exchange organization must be included in the regulator’s corresponding register. The FAQ does not treat those conditions as interchangeable. A licensed broker qualifies through its professional-market license, while an exchange organization qualifies through registration. Payments companies integrating either route will need to identify which legal category their counterparty uses and verify the matching record.
The page provides the register location and the participant-checking service, but it does not publish commercial terms for these routes. The clarification contains no fee schedule, transaction limit, onboarding standard or list of supported assets. Those details will depend on the authorized firms that make retail services available before the cutoff.
Wallet transfers are restricted separately
The clarification goes beyond the trading venue. The Bank of Russia says an individual may not transfer digital currency from a digital account to that same person’s noncustodial wallet. It cites Article 31, part 9, of Federal Law 282-FZ for the restriction.
That answer separates ownership from control of the destination. Even when the digital account and noncustodial wallet belong to the same person, the transfer is not permitted under the regulator’s reading. A user cannot assume that moving purchased crypto to a self-controlled address is allowed merely because there is no change in beneficial owner.
The central bank gives a second negative answer for transfers between individuals through identifier addresses administered by a digital depository. It says Article 31, part 5, does not permit those transfers, including transfers that would settle a deal between the two people. Using a depository-managed address therefore does not recreate the direct P2P route described in the preceding answer.
Taken together, the answers constrain both the execution venue and two potential delivery paths. The trade must use an authorized organizer after the cutoff. The same FAQ says an individual cannot withdraw from a digital account to that person’s noncustodial wallet, and it rejects person-to-person delivery through addresses administered by a digital depository. The guidance does not explain an alternative retail withdrawal route in these answers.
Crypto lending has its own perimeter
The Bank of Russia also addresses loans whose subject is digital currency. Its answer cites Article 30, part 4, and says lenders must fall within a named set of institutional categories. Those categories are brokers, trustees, organizations that exchange digital currencies, and clearing organizations.
The wording excludes people and entities outside those categories from acting as the lender in such a crypto loan. This is separate from the P2P trading cutoff. The FAQ presents the lending restriction as a rule based on the lender’s status, rather than as a transition that starts on July 1, 2027.
For DeFi users, the immediate planning issue is access. A Russian resident relying on direct bank-transfer P2P purchases has until July 1, 2027 under the clarification. A service preparing to keep serving that resident after the deadline needs a route through a licensed broker or a registered crypto exchange organization. The wallet and lending answers mean that intermediary access does not by itself establish permission for self-custody transfers or person-to-person crypto loans.
The Bank of Russia page identifies Federal Law 282-FZ as dated August 4, 2026. The next dated milestone in the guidance is July 1, 2027, when direct P2P trades fall outside the permitted list. The remaining open operational question is which registered firms will offer retail access by that date and what permitted delivery method they will support.
