Russia Passes Bill to Legalize Crypto to Dodge International Sanctions

Russian lawmakers voted to legalize cryptocurrencies for international settlements in an apparent effort to dodge sanctions imposed by Western countries. Reuters reports that the law is expected to take effect in September and that first crypto transactions could take place before the year ends.

The country’s economy has struggled with international transfers since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in January 2022. Sanctions by Western financial institutions can make it difficult for Russian companies to complete transactions—even with trading partners like China, India or Turkey.

Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma’s financial market committee, told Bloomberg that under the new bill, cryptocurrencies will be held to the same set of regulations as foreign cy—like the U.S. dollar—in Russia.

Russia has taken an inconsistent line on crypto for international settlements since the start of the war. The country put out a blanket ban on crypto for payments at the start of the war but later, allowed financial services firms to trial crypto for some use cases.

Many heavily sanctioned countries, including Venezuela, already use crypto for their international settlements. Russian crypto analyst Ani Aslanyan told Bloomberg that he expects crypto participation to remain limited to large- and mid-size companies, due to the difficulty of fulfilling the conditions of the new legislation.

Many firms have already been hit with fines for helping Russian banks use crypto. Lithuania fined crypto firm Payeer 9.3 million Euro for Russia-related sanction violations last month, for allowing Russian customers to transfer money to EU-sanctioned Russian banks.

Ahead of passage, Aslanyan told Bloomberg he expects countries like the U.S. to increase their scrutiny of Russian crypto activity in light of the new bill.

Russian lawmakers have been public about the need for creative solutions to Russia’s payments issues. Elvira Nabiullina, governor of the Russian central bank, recently told the press she expects international payment systems not involving Western institutions to eventually emerge in response to sanctions.

Lawmakers are also set to vote on a new bill governing crypto mining.

Russia, which has cheap energy and cold weather ideal for mining in many areas like Siberia, has historically been one of the world’s top crypto-mining nations. It ranked third in the world in 2024 for Bitcoin production, according to data the Russian finance ministry provided to German news outlet bne Intellinews.

However, Putin has previously warned crypto mining could cause electricity shortages if it is not properly regulated.