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Foreign crypto exchanges and crypto exchangers interested in operating in the Russian market will be able to operate in the country according to the general rules through subsidiaries registered in Russia. This was announced by Ekaterina Lozgacheva, financial market strategic development director of the Central Bank, RBC reports.

"Under the general rules, they can, just like other institutions such as banks, open . . . their own subsidiary and provide services pursuant to Russian law. That's the only way. In other words, the same approach applies here as for financial intermediaries in general operating in the traditional market," Lozgacheva said.

In late 2025, the Bank of Russia unveiled a conceptual plan of cryptocurrency market regulation. The concept assumes that cryptocurrency transactions will be permitted through existing infrastructure such as exchanges and brokers, and that access will be available to both qualified and unqualified investors. The government expects that cryptocurrency market regulation will be greenlighted during the State Duma's 2026 spring session.

Leading foreign crypto exchanges will not appear in Russia anytime soon, Mikhail Uspensky, a member of the State Duma's expert council on the legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies, told RBC Crypto. Major foreign crypto services, he said, fear sanctions pressure and the associated risks. However, the market expects that licensed exchangers from friendly CIS countries will be granted preferential terms, Uspensky said.

Earlier in February, Moscow Exchange supervisory board chairman Sergey Shvetsov said that Russians pay about $15 billion in commissions to crypto exchanges that are registered abroad or operate in a grey area within Russia. When Russian cryptocurrency regulation laws are passed, Roskomnadzor may begin wholesale blocking of the websites of crypto exchanges and large exchangers that are not registered in Russia, according to Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at crypto exchange aggregator Bestchange.ru.