According to a key participant in Russia's soon-to-be-regulated market, sanctions could turn the country into a platform for trading 'dirty' cryptocurrency at discounted prices.
In September, the country is preparing to legalize cryptocurrency transactions, but the assets circulating within it are likely to be too risky for other market participants.
Russia is said to be creating an 'exotic market for fraudulent cryptocurrency'
Western sanctions could lead to the creation of an isolated Russian digital asset market that foreign players will be unwilling to work with.
This means that coins traded there are likely to be offered at a discount compared to global prices, as stated by the CEO of a leading Russian broker.
Vladislav Kochetkov, Chairman of the Board of the Finam financial group, made these comments in an interview with the Russian news agency TASS.
Speaking ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), a major international conference to be held next week in the far-eastern city of Vladivostok, he said:
"Sanctions could lead to Russia becoming a market for 'tainted' cryptocurrencies, that is, assets that have passed through blocked addresses or platforms and therefore pose a danger to international counterparties."
This could make the Russian market "extremely exotic," offering a significant discount compared to international benchmark rates, Kochetkov emphasized.
It's not just about being cut off from global liquidity. "It is about the formation of a separate, isolated pricing cycle, functioning according to its own rules," he explained.
Moscow to legalize cryptocurrency transactions from September 1
The president of Finam stated in excerpts from an interview published on Thursday that the company intends to enter the regulated Russian cryptocurrency market as a major participant, operating simultaneously as a broker and an exchange.
The country is preparing to legalize cryptocurrency operations, such as investing and trading, through the new "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" law passed by the Russian parliament in July.
The legislation, Moscow's first attempt to comprehensively regulate the digital asset sector, was signed by President Putin in early August.
The main provisions of this nearly 300-page legal document will come into force on September 1, 2026, as previously stated. Commenting on this issue to Cryptopolitan, Vladislav Kochetkov said:
"Yes, we plan to enter the Russian cryptocurrency market and take leading positions. As for roles... definitely, we will be a broker and a cryptocurrency exchange."
Finam was one of the first Russian companies to offer cryptocurrency derivatives to qualified investors, along with Sberbank and MOEX, after the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) permitted it in May 2025.
The new regulatory framework allows traditional companies, such as banks and brokers, to enter the cryptocurrency market based on existing licenses and act as intermediaries.
It also introduces a licensing regime for cryptocurrency platforms, such as existing exchanges, and introduces a new category of participants — "digital depositories."
The latter will be responsible for the storage and accounting of cryptocurrency assets. Internal transactions will only be possible through authorized organizations.
Finam has not yet made a decision to create its own depository, Kochetkov said in the TASS interview, excerpts of which were published on Thursday and Friday.
"The decision has not been made yet, and the reason is purely economic: it's expensive," he noted, adding that such an investment would require at least 3 billion rubles ($35 million) and eight years to pay off.
Russian cryptocurrency market will be 'speculative, inflexible, and liquid'
The "digital currency" law will, for the first time, provide non-professional investors in Russia with a legal opportunity to invest in decentralized and fiat-pegged digital assets.
However, these will only be the most liquid and capitalized cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as the stablecoin Tether (USDT). Additionally, investments will be limited to less than $4,000 per year per intermediary.
The CEO of Finam believes the Russian cryptocurrency market will be predominantly speculative, rather than focused on acquiring cryptocurrency for payments or storage in personal non-custodial wallets. He noted:
"As usual, we are going our own way and moving away from the classic crypto ideology of free movement of assets without intermediaries."
Kochetkov is also convinced that, although the Russian market will be built on a "rigid architecture, unusual for cryptocurrencies," it will be "fully functional and liquid."
