Put on the beat: starting in 2026, Russians will be fined for paying in crypto
Starting in 2026, Russians will be fined for paying in cryptocurrency. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the financial market, told Izvestia about this. The amount of the fine for individuals will be from 100 thousand rubles, and for legal entities — from 700 thousand rubles. Payment for goods and services in crypto has been prohibited by law since 2021. However, due to the lack of real punishment, this practice is still found. For example, it is actively used in the segment of video games, online courses, and in the payment of salaries in the creative and IT industries, especially when the customer and contractor are located in different countries. Cryptoprocessing services and Telegram bots are operating in Russia, which make such transactions possible, Izvestia has tested this tool.
The State Duma will impose fines for payment in cryptocurrency
Starting from the beginning of 2026, Russia plans to introduce fines for payments in cryptocurrency, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma's financial market committee, told Izvestia. According to him, the State Duma will consider this bill in the fall. It is necessary to regulate the issue of responsibility, because now there is a gray area, the deputy emphasized.
The bill on penalties for payments in cryptocurrencies was developed by the Bank of Russia together with the Ministry of Finance. The document assumes liability for individuals in the amount of 100-200 thousand rubles, and for legal entities 700 thousand — 1 million rubles, said Andrey Medvedev, director of the legal department of the Central Bank at SPIEF-2025. In addition, the cryptocurrency that was used illegally as a payment will be confiscated.
The head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, spoke in early April about the need to strengthen responsibility for the use of cryptocurrencies in domestic settlements. She noted that the Bank of Russia is ready to allow investments in cryptocurrencies within the Russian Federation, but only for individual market participants.
The issue of regulating crypto payments for goods and services in Russia should be divided into two periods: before and after the entry into force of the law on digital financial assets in 2021. It prohibits payment in cryptocurrency on the territory of the country. However, in Russia it is allowed to purchase and sell, invest in and own digital currencies, as well as mining.
Later, on January 1, 2025, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation officially recognized cryptocurrency as property. It follows that mining and trading operations with it are now subject to taxation.
Cryptocurrency can and should be used for payment in foreign economic activity, the Central Bank believes. However, only within the experimental legal regime (EPR), which makes it possible to identify risks and respond promptly to them, explained Andrey Medvedev from the Central Bank.
How the law on digital assets is being violated today
Since 2021, no major company has announced initiatives with payment in cryptocurrency, fearing problems with regulators, says Irina Kuyantseva, an adviser to the practice of corporate law and M&A BGP Litigation. According to her, some payments using digital currencies have gone into the gray area. First of all, this activity is aimed at circumventing sanctions in cross-border settlements (and not necessarily within the EPR).
— It is precisely this hidden practice that the new bill on fines is aimed at. The state intends to close the loophole when there is a ban, but there is no direct responsibility for its violation, making such operations economically risky," Irina Kuyantseva said.
Of the modern cases of the misuse of cryptocurrencies, there are cases of Russian freelancers and employees of IT companies receiving salaries, as well as payments for services from foreign customers.
— According to Law No. 259-FZ, a seller (a company from the Russian Federation or an individual who is a tax resident of the Russian Federation) does not have the right to receive cryptocurrency in exchange for his goods, work or service. The law explicitly prohibits accepting cryptocurrencies as payment," Irina Kuyantseva confirmed.
Andrey Barkhota, an independent expert, gave another example of using cryptocurrencies for payment in Russia. According to him, the company from the service sector, after conducting expensive training of its employees using the service of foreign providers, actually paid for the services received with digital assets.
— Despite the legal ban, the practice of illegal payments in cryptocurrency exists. In the first year alone, we at the T.Hunter Cyber Research Department recorded a 2.5-fold increase in cryptocurrency transactions in the Russian Federation. This was due to the need to provide shadow financial schemes, including the withdrawal of funds abroad and remuneration for employees relocated from Russia," said Igor Bederov, Director of the department.
According to him, many developers and IT specialists receive payments in cryptocurrency abroad from Russian companies. He is aware of cases of payments for the supply of goods from Asia, services for the promotion of goods and services using mobile traffic. Trade in prohibited goods and services is also almost entirely carried out using cryptocurrencies.
One of the most popular industries for payments in crypto is video games, said IT expert Ivan Kalmykov. Companies in the web3 segment prefer to use not just cryptocurrency transactions for calculations, but try to pay in the currency that is generated by their game projects.
According to another industry source, creative industries are also choosing crypto. Among the striking examples is the video hosting service W.TV and mobile game dEmpire of Vampire. The first company is registered in Costa Rica, and the second in Dubai, but they are actively operating in the Russian Federation. Moreover, as the source told the editorial staff, the VAMEON studio (which produces the game Empire of Vampire) pays its employee from a Russian city of one million people in crypto. Izvestia sent requests to the video hosting company W.TV and VAMEON studio, no responses have been received at the time of publication.
— In our practice, there have been such cases related to the investigation of fake forms of investment attraction (ICO), crypto exchanges, exchangers, and even decentralized finance (DeFi) services. A number of cases were related to extortion of funds from Russians for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," concluded Igor Bederov.
Payment in cryptocurrency is often found in informal employment, Phishman CEO and information security expert Alexey Gorelkin told Izvestia.
— This is a common option for remote work of Russian citizens in our country who work for companies outside of Russia. At the same time, Russian companies rarely work directly with crypto, preferring to use it as additional motivation, thereby using it as incentive assets rather than wages," he added.
In addition, according to data for the middle of 2023, 300-400 cryptoprocessing services and bots are operating in Russia, offering assistance in accepting payments for goods and services in cryptocurrencies, said Pen, a junior lawyer. & Paper by Anna Lysenko. She added: individual entrepreneurs and small businesses even used QR terminals to accept cryptocurrencies through Telegram bots. One of these services, the Antarctic wallet, allows you to pay for goods in a stablecoin linked to the dollar — USDT exchange rate and converts it into rubles.
Izvestia connected to Antarctic and studied its functionality. The bot offers the user to provide cryptocurrency for payment by making a payment via QR, and then converts it and gives it to the store, while the exchange process is not detailed.
This is actually a circumvention of the legislation of the Russian Federation, such activity is illegal, said Georgy Ostapkovich, Scientific director of the HSE Center for Economic Research and Economic Development. The currency in which goods can be paid for or salaries paid to employees within the country is set by the regulator.
It is also extremely doubtful that a private individual, while in Russia, buys goods online abroad and pays in cryptocurrency, says Georgy Ostapkovich. According to him, this is an illegal mechanism that lawyers should deal with, and pure avoidance of sales taxes.
The head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, has repeatedly stressed that cryptocurrencies should not be allowed as a means of payment. They remain volatile instruments that are often used for opaque operations. Therefore, the Bank of Russia considers it necessary to prohibit settlements in them outside the experimental legal regime.
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