Russia may block foreign crypto exchanges. Soon. According to Blockchain on X, RBC sources say the move could hit as early as this summer.
Russian crypto regulations are moving fast. The government pledged new crypto market laws by July 1. Foreign platforms like Bybit and OKX sit directly in the crosshairs.
They're Losing $15 Billion. And They Know It.
Sergey Shvetsov chairs the Moscow Exchange supervisory board. He confirmed Russians pay roughly $15 billion annually in fees. That money flows straight to global crypto platforms.
The Moscow Exchange wants that revenue back. Shvetsov said the exchange will start "competing for this pie." His words. Not anymore going to foreign players unchallenged.
Russia's crypto turnover runs at approximately 50 billion rubles daily. That's per the Ministry of Finance. Nearly all of it flows outside regulated channels.
Nikita Zuborev is senior analyst at Bestchange.ru. He told RBC-Crypto that Roskomnadzor could begin mass website blocking this summer. DNS record deletion. YouTube-style enforcement.
"Foreign exchanges may be safe for now," Zuborev said. But once domestic platforms launch, competition will be crushed quickly.
Blocking won't clean the market, he warned. It will push activity underground. Fraud rises. Commissions spike. Black market exchangers multiply overnight.
The Belarus Model Nobody Wants To Talk About
Dmitry Machikhin founded the BitOK service. He called a "Belarusian scenario" highly likely for Russia. In Belarus, crypto trading outside state-approved platforms became illegal for individuals starting 2024.
But enforcement has hard limits, Machikhin noted. Exchanges control their own onboarding. Even after Binance's Russia exit, at least 1 million Russians stayed active clients.
Ignat Likhunov founded legal agency Cartesius. He agreed blocking and the "white zone" are being built together. Foreign exchanges face no real domestic legal pressure yet.
They won't comply willingly, Likhunov said. So they'll face penalties in absentia. Then access restrictions follow. That's the path.
WhiteBit already got declared undesirable in Russia. The Prosecutor General's Office ruled it assisted Ukrainian armed forces. Likhunov said this model should have existed long ago.
Viktor Pershikov is a cryptocurrency market analyst. He told RBC-Crypto that blocking could stem from data retention law violations. Foreign servers in Europe and the US storing Russian user data. That alone triggers action.
Roskomnadzor also plans AI-powered traffic filtering in 2026. Budget allocated: 2.27 billion rubles. The infrastructure for enforcement is already being built.
Wu Blockchain the story on X noting experts believe Russia could restrict foreign exchange access in alignment with the July regulatory deadline.
The market, Zuborev said, will respond quickly regardless. Russian crypto regulations won't stop traders. They'll adapt. They always do.
