Russia moves to allow regulated trading of Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT

Big news out of Russia: the central bank has proposed a framework that would make crypto trading legal on regulated venues, and it names three assets outright — Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.

Here are the rules, the caps and the things that still are not allowed, because the detail matters a great deal more than the headline does.

📰 What happened

President Putin signed legislation this month that formally legalizes crypto trading in Russia. What the central bank has now put forward is the detail of how that trading is actually meant to work.

The framework takes effect on 1 September 2026, and public feedback closes on 24 August 2026. Every trade has to go through a regulated intermediary — an exchange, a broker, an asset manager or a digital depository.

🪙 Why those three assets

The bank's test was that an asset must have at least five years of price history on foreign platforms, plus high liquidity and a large enough market capitalization.

Set the bar there and the answer is not much of a surprise. Newer tokens, or ones without a long enough record, do not come close to qualifying.

👤 Who can trade, and how much they can buy

There are two groups. Retail investors can buy up to 300,000 rubles a year, roughly $3,650 to $3,700 — and the part worth reading twice is that the cap counts separately for each intermediary, not across the whole market.

Qualified investors face no purchase limit at all, on exchange or over the counter.

One rule applies to everybody: you have to pass a test first. Whatever your status, there is a knowledge assessment before you can transact.

🚫 You still cannot pay with it

Here is the part the headlines tend to drop. Crypto still cannot be used to pay for goods and services inside Russia, and that extends to information and intellectual property too.

What is allowed is cross-border settlement, which is a different thing entirely from walking into a shop and paying in Bitcoin. Russia is opening it up as an asset to hold and trade, not as money to spend.

🇹🇭 What it means from here

Russian law has no direct effect on anyone here, but the direction is worth noting. It is another country choosing to pull crypto inside a regulated perimeter rather than ban it, which is broadly the path Thailand's SEC has taken for years.

The other thing to notice is that 300,000-ruble annual cap. When an asset is brought onto a regulated venue, it arrives with rules about how much you may buy, who you may buy it through, and whether you have to sit a test first.

And that is the distinction worth holding onto: trading on a regulated venue and holding your own keys are not the same thing. In the first, the coins sit in an account someone else administers. In the second they are yours, with no cap and no permission needed — which also means the responsibility is entirely yours.

❓ Common questions

Can I use this from outside Russia? The framework was written for Russia's own market and the intermediaries it regulates. If you are buying and selling crypto here, use a provider licensed by Thailand's SEC.

Why is nothing else on the list? Because the criteria require at least five years of price history along with high liquidity and market capitalization. Most assets fail on the first test alone.

Will this push the price up? We do not forecast prices. What can be said is that it adds a legal route in a country where a lot of people already hold crypto. Where the price goes from there is a separate question.

🛒 Buying in Thailand

Whichever venue you trade on, if the plan is to hold for the long term, moving coins into a hardware wallet is a genuinely different step, because the keys end up with you rather than in somebody's account.

SIAMBC has been an authorized distributor in Thailand since 2016. Everything is new and factory sealed, delivery is free nationwide, and there is a real shop in Bangkok you can walk into before deciding. You can also message us on LINE @siambc first.