The Russian State Duma is advancing legislation that would grant law enforcement sweeping powers to seize cryptocurrencies in criminal cases, signaling a clear policy priority of establishing enforcement mechanisms before fully legalizing the digital asset market. A key parliamentary committee has approved a draft bill for its final reading, which explicitly classifies digital assets as property under Russia's Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes.
The proposed law aims to close a legal vacuum that has hindered investigators in corruption probes and financial crime cases involving crypto. According to committee head Pavel Krasheninnikov, "The adoption of the law will eliminate the legal vacuum," bringing Russia closer to international standards. The bill provides concrete seizure methods: authorities can confiscate physical infrastructure like servers, laptops, or cold storage devices, or directly transfer digital funds into state-controlled wallets to prevent assets from being hidden or moved during investigations.
This enforcement push runs on a separate track from Russia's broader crypto regulatory framework, which remains under construction and is expected to be finalized by July 1, 2026, based on a blueprint from the Central Bank of Russia. That future framework will recognize cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as "monetary assets" but ban their use as a domestic payment method, keeping the ruble dominant for everyday transactions.
Lawmakers have also signaled that retail access will come with strict limits. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Financial Markets Committee, indicated that ordinary citizens may be allowed to buy crypto legally but within an annual cap, with discussions pointing to a limit of 300,000 rubles, though the final figure is not locked in.
Notably, Russia's Constitutional Court has recently confirmed that cryptocurrencies qualify as property entitled to judicial protection, meaning owners retain legal rights even when assets are frozen under criminal law. The ruling United Russia party frames the seizure bill as a necessary modernization of law enforcement rather than a crackdown on innovation. The bill is now positioned for its third and final reading in the State Duma, reflecting a distinctly Russian model where enforcement capabilities are established prior to market expansion.
