As the Bank of Russia moves to regulate the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency in the country through the Federal Law No. 282-FZ, which sets the legal rules for cryptocurrencies and digital rights in Russia, the central bank has established that transactions must be conducted strictly through state-supervised intermediaries and organized trading.
The Bank of Russia updated that transfer of digital currency including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and XRP to non-custodial or self-custody crypto wallets – applications that generate, store, and use users’ private keys locally to sign transactions directly on a blockchain – is prohibited, according to its October 12, 2026, note, which Finbold analyzed on October 15.
The Bank of Russia also clarified that crypto transfer from a digital account to a non-custodial wallet of the same individual is not permitted under the same law.
However, the central bank highlighted that under the established law, Part 1 of Article 30 of Federal Law No. 282-FZ, different parties in Russia use self-custodial wallets by July 1, 2027.
Under the recently adopted Russian crypto law, the Central Bank of Russia is attempting to enforce the use of regulated intermediaries to eliminate traditional means of Web3 anonymity.
Russia deanonymizes crypto for economic control
The Russian Federal Law No. 282-FZ, enacted on September 1, 2026, is designed to help local businesses and exporters perform cross-border transactions and manage international payments seamlessly, due to hurdles created by sanctions.
Furthermore, Russia has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, Switzerland, and several other allied Western nations following its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
As the law allows funneling domestic crypto activity through state-supervised intermediaries, it has banned the use of cryptocurrencies in payments within Russia.
Consequently, Russia is only deanonymizing digital assets in the country by banning Bitcoin transfers to self-custodial wallets, to help locals circumvent Western sanctions while protecting its local financial system from capital flight, domestic tax evasion, and unmonitored monetary outflows.
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