Russia now has a comprehensive crypto trading law. The United States, one year after the House passed its own market structure bill by a landslide, still does not. That gap closed in a single week, and this week it got a detail almost too on the nose to be true: the US Senate cleared its floor for a Russia sanctions bill and pushed the crypto bill back again.
What exactly did Russia just pass?
On 21 July 2026, Russia's State Duma completed the second and third readings of bill No. 1194918-8, titled "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights." The vote was not close. It cleared with 340 in favour, after a first reading in April that carried 327 of 340 deputies.
The core provisions:
- Crypto is legally property. Holders get judicial protection in courts, bankruptcy proceedings and divorce settlements, and that protection applies even to assets that were never declared to the authorities.
- Licensed intermediaries only. Exchanges, brokers, custodians, asset managers and exchange service providers go into a single registry supervised by the Bank of Russia. Banks will be required to reject transfers to providers outside it.
- Cross-border settlement is a...
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