Russian financial authorities are preparing a series of technical and regulatory measures that could see access to foreign cryptocurrency exchanges blocked as early as the summer of 2026. This strategy is designed to coincide with a comprehensive new crypto legal framework expected to take effect by July 1, 2026.
The move is a calculated effort to migrate the country’s massive digital asset trading volume—estimated at approximately 50 billion rubles per day—onto supervised domestic platforms. Sergey Shvetsov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Moscow Exchange, has been a vocal proponent of this "repatriation" of liquidity, noting that Russian citizens currently pay roughly 15 billion dollars in annual fees to overseas exchanges. By restricting access to global platforms, authorities aim to capture this revenue, strengthen Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls, and ensure crypto-related wealth remains within the national financial system.
The proposed restrictions are expected to be enforced through Roskomnadzor, the state media and internet regulator, using a combination of DNS blocking and deep packet inspection (DPI) technologies. This "technical barrier" approach would remove DNS records for non-compliant foreign exchanges from the Russian internet segment (Runet), making their websites inaccessible without circumvention tools.
Analysts suggest Russia may adopt a "controlled legalization" model similar to Belarus, where trading is permitted only through a limited number of authorized domestic exchanges. This transition would require users to migrate balances to approved Russian entities that comply with strict data localization laws and provide the Federal Tax Service with real-time transaction data access.
However, security experts warn that aggressive blocking could inadvertently drive a significant portion of Russia’s crypto activity into the "shadow economy." Nikita Zuborev, a senior analyst at Bestchange, suggested strict enforcement might push users toward peer-to-peer (P2P) desks, decentralized exchanges (DEXs), and unregulated exchangers, making it harder to track illicit flows. The reliance on VPNs could also increase fraud and security risks for retail investors.
The government's challenge will be to balance its desire for monetary control with the practical need to maintain a functional digital asset bridge for international trade and sanction evasion as the July 1 deadline approaches.
