The Russian Treasury Ministry proposes relaxing the requirements for entry into the country’s limited and tightly controlled cryptocurrency market.
The proposal to lower the threshold for granting access to digital assets comes when the country drops to 10th place among crypto employers.
Minfin encourages more Russians to try the code
The Russian Ministry of Finance (Minfin) believes it is possible to relax the requirements for obtaining the status of “highly qualified” investors necessary to participate in a market that recognizes crypto assets states.
In March this year, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) proposed that this category be allowed to buy and sell cryptocurrencies under a special “experimental legal regime” (ELR) for trading with digital coins such as Bitcoin and other businesses.
As these investors are commonly referred to, citizens must prove to be invested in securities and deposits over 100 million rubles (over $1.2 million).
Talk to reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, the Far Eastern city.
“We’re discussing these numbers accurately. We believe these standards can be adjusted downwards. They’re currently being discussed.”
An official cited by Interfax news agency revealed that Minfin’s idea was to expand the list of participants in crypto transactions organized within the ELR framework. However, he did not elaborate on how much the ministry wanted to see the threshold drop.
Yakovlev emphasized that while standards should limit the potential circle of participants, authorities should avoid access to legal crypto infrastructure from denying access to “sensitivity parts of the population.”
As Cryptopolitan previously reported, Russians already have over $25 billion in digital assets, even if they have little option to obtain crypto in their country.
In light of the development of permanent regulations, Yakovlev emphasized, “Proposals to reduce this limit may be considered, as I said, so that there are more important citizens (to participate in the experiment) and that all processes can be tested.”
The Bank of Russia opposes crypto payments
In a recommendation to the government in the past spring, the Bank of Russia also proposed that all qualified investors be able to invest in derivative financial instruments, securities and digital financial assets without direct exposure to cryptocurrencies.
Within a month of issuing a financial institution’s circular permit to allow such investments in May, Russian investors purchased $16 million worth of Bitcoin futures.
Financial authorities continue to oppose the free distribution and use of decentralized digital currencies in the national economy for payments.
Regulators are pushing for a complete ban on non-ELR crypto payments, allowing businesses to adopt cryptocurrency in cross-border settlements under sanctions.
Currently, Russian citizens do not expressly ban the acquisition of cryptocurrency, but in the absence of centralized local exchanges, they rely primarily on foreign platforms. In August, a group of lawmakers urged CBR to license a network of domestic exchanges.
Meanwhile, Russia fell to the bottom of the top 10 of the 2025 Global Adaptation Index, released this week by a chain analysis of blockchain forensic companies. It ranked 7th in last year’s edition.
Nearby Ukraine, which took an important step towards legalizing crypto assets and regulating markets on Wednesday, also fell from 6th to 8th place.
The two former Soviet republics saw a surge in encryption a few years after Moscow began a full-scale invasion in early 2022. This spurred Ukraine’s Fiat restrictions under martial law, spurred sanctions in Russia, and severely restricted access to citizens and businesses.
