Russian parliament prioritizes cryptocurrencies and stablecoins next year

Cryptocurrencies and stablecoins will be the focus of Russian legislative activity next year, a prominent Moscow lawmaker has suggested.

A senior lawmaker emphasized that building a legal framework for digital finance will be a top priority as Russia moves to regulate the cryptocurrency sector.

Digital assets and finance become a priority for Russia

Russian lawmakers will place particular emphasis on introducing rules for the country’s digital financial assets, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins market in 2026.

This pledge comes from the head of a parliamentary body that has significant influence over the legislative process in this area.

Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Financial Markets Committee of the Russian Parliament, elaborated that digital finance will be one of the most important themes of the new year, along with Islamic banking and the fight against fraud.

In a post on Telegram, a Russian lawmaker summarized the results of a discussion on the issue at a meeting dedicated to banking law, insisting that the lawmakers would prioritize establishing a legal framework in these areas.

As quoted by business news portal RBC on Thursday, Aksakov elaborated:

“The focus will be on the development of the market for digital financial assets (DFA), cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.”

DFA, or the issuance and deployment of products such as tokenized assets and securities, was regulated by Russia’s Law on Digital Financial Assets, which came into force several years ago.

The latter two categories, representing decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin and stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies like Tether, remained outside the scope of the law.

For example, some related activities, such as cryptocurrency mining, are regulated by dedicated legislation adopted in 2024, but these remain largely a gray area in Russia.

Russian government to grow domestic DFA market

Aksakov revealed that starting next year, debt-based DFAs will be treated like traditional bonds for tax purposes. He believes this will facilitate rapid market expansion.

His committee on Wednesday approved a bill to regulate the issuance of digital financial assets backed by mortgages.

He is confident that if the legislation passes the House of Representatives, the introduction of these products will be further expanded. He explained:

“This opens up opportunities to integrate DFA with the housing market and other assets, strengthening the investment role of digital finance as an alternative to bank loans and traditional bonds.”

New Year Brings Cryptocurrency Regulation and Digital Ruble

Anatoly Aksakov reminded that the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has already announced its intention to introduce comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation in 2026.

Breaking away from a long-standing position opposing allowing free cryptocurrency trading in the Russian economy, regulators this week signaled they are willing to support loosening rules governing the circulation of cryptocurrencies.

Currently, cryptoassets and their derivatives are acquired, traded, and used by a limited group of privileged market participants, such as companies engaged in foreign trade, financial companies, and “highly qualified” investors, within a very limited “experimental legal regime” (ELR).

Financial authorities are currently consulting with the Treasury on ways to expand investor access and regulate trading outside the ELR. Earlier, it revealed that it plans to allow banks to handle digital coins and allow funds to invest in crypto-based derivative products.

This week, Vladimir Chistyukhin, first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, also revealed that two regulatory bodies are considering whether to classify stablecoins as a separate category.

In September, Russia recognized the Russian ruble-pegged stablecoin A7A5, which accounts for almost half of the non-dollar stablecoin market, as a digital financial asset and announced that it intended to use it for foreign trade despite Western sanctions.

In 2026, the digital ruble will be widely introduced, as expected by the Russian authorities. The central bank digital currency issuance system developed by CBR will be made available to the public in several stages, with the first stage starting on September 1st.