Russia prepares to block global crypto exchanges this year, report

The Russian government may start blocking access to foreign cryptocurrency exchanges as soon as it regulates crypto trading in its jurisdiction in a few months’ time, according to industry watchers.

The warning comes amid restrictions on messaging apps, video-sharing sites, and social media networks based abroad, which recently affected popular platforms like Telegram, WhatsApp, and YouTube.

Meanwhile, the appetite of Russian financial firms for crypto profits has been growing, and they are already indicating their intentions to divert some of the massive flow of fees that’s currently leaving the country toward their own platforms, once the Russian crypto framework is in place.

Moscow may ban major coin trading venues in 2026

Russia is gearing up to begin adopting legislative changes that should properly regulate various crypto-related activities in the country by July 1, including investment and exchange, replacing a temporary solution that currently governs official operations with digital assets in its economy.

Regulators in Moscow gradually softened their stance on the matter in a pivotal 2025, with the Bank of Russia initially proposing an “experimental legal regime” for crypto transactions last spring and then legalizing the offering of crypto derivatives to “highly qualified investors” at the end of May.

In late December, the monetary authority announced a brand-new regulatory concept that suggests recognizing cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as “monetary assets” and expanding investor access to include even ordinary Russians, albeit under some limitations.

Analysts interviewed by leading Russian business news outlet RBC believe access to well-established global exchanges such as Bybit or OKX, for example, may be restricted when Moscow starts issuing licenses to domestic platforms.

According to Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at the crypto exchange aggregator Bestchange.ru, that’s a likely development. He believes that as soon as Russia launches its own service providers, it will start to fight off major competitors. He elaborated:

The measures to be employed are likely to be the same as those currently targeting YouTube. Russia’s telecom and media watchdog recently deleted its domain, and that of Meta’s messenger WhatsApp, from its DNS servers, effectively cutting off access to them for Russian residents.

Zuborev warned that if foreign platforms are not allowed to obtain Russian licenses or at least permitted to operate as agents for domestic exchanges and brokers, a large portion of the existing market will move to the shadow economy, fragment, and become almost impossible to regulate.

What’s even more likely is a “Belarusian” scenario, thinks Dmitry Machikhin, lawyer and founder of BitOK, a provider of AML and KYT solutions for crypto businesses.

Belarus allows only companies registered as residents of its High-Tech Park (HTP) hub to process cryptocurrency transactions. In 2024, Minsk prohibited its citizens from buying and selling coins on foreign platforms.

He doubted, however, that it would be possible to enforce a similar ban, giving Binance as an example. At least a million Russians are still clients of the world’s largest digital-asset exchange, he pointed out, even after it officially pulled out of the country’s market.

Ignat Likhunov, founder of the law firm Cartesius, which specializes in providing legal advice in the crypto space, highlighted the lack of real levers to exert influence over foreign exchanges, which are not in a rush to comply with any requirements.

The authorities will probably restrict access to such platforms and to exchanges supporting sanctions against Russia and its citizens for various, including economic, reasons, he added.

Non-compliance with domestic data protection law could serve as grounds for blocking, too, as most of these trading services store the personal information of Russian citizens on servers located in Europe or the United States.

One thing is sure, Russia will try to put its hands on at least some of the commissions that foreign exchanges currently charge on its citizens and businesses, which amount to an estimated $15 billion.

Established financial players like the Moscow Exchange, which will be able to provide crypto services using their existing licenses under the upcoming rules, have already indicated they intend to do so.

Recently quoted by the business daily Vedomosti, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of MOEX, Sergey Shvetsov, said Russia’s largest stock market plans to attract crypto turnover as soon as the law allows it.

The finance ministry in Moscow revealed last week that the total volume of Russian crypto transactions is already reaching 50 billion rubles (over $647 million) daily, as reported by Cryptopolitan.