Новые ограничения ЦБ РФ на криптоинвестиции: шаг к консерватизму или угроза для банковского сектора? New Restrictions by the Central Bank of Russia on Crypto Investments: A Step Toward Conservatism or a Threat to the Banking Sector?

The founder of GMT Legal, Andrey Tugrin, believes that the upcoming changes represent the formalization of the already established conservative stance of the regulator. In his view, they will «not impact» credit institutions in any way.

«The Central Bank currently advises all banks to adopt a conservative risk assessment regarding investments in cryptocurrency. A conservative risk assessment is a fundamental principle of Basel II/III/IV. This is why we are now seeing the emergence of a new term, ‘CryptoBasel’,» he stated.

Tugrin clarified that strict regulations have been in place for some time. He referred to Information Letter IN 03-23/87 from May of this year, where the regulator «recommends that banks fully cover any cryptocurrency investments with their own assets (every ruble of investor funds must be backed by a ruble of the bank’s own funds) and set limits on such investments, for instance, to less than 1% of their capital.»

«These recommendations will remain in effect until the Central Bank develops new regulatory approaches, which are planned for 2026. However, these actions indicate that the Bank of Russia will maintain its view of cryptocurrencies as high-risk assets. Therefore, nothing will fundamentally change for the banking sector,» the expert added.

Ani Aslanyan, the founder of the Telegram channel «All About Blockchain, Brain, and WEB 3.0 in Russia and the World,» sees the Central Bank’s initiative as a direct threat to parts of the banking business and predicts negative consequences for clients.

«Banks will face rising costs to comply with new regulations, implement monitoring systems, and adapt their products. This may temporarily dampen their interest in the cryptocurrency market,» she noted.

The expert is convinced that the new rules will hit smaller players the hardest, potentially driving some smaller banks out of the market.

«Restrictions for unqualified investors and stringent credit rules for crypto companies will slow down the development of the industry in the banking sector while increasing oversight of operations,» she emphasized.

Aslanyan considers the potential migration of users «into the shadows» to be the most serious risk. According to her, the tightening of rules for credit institutions may push some clients to use unregulated exchanges or foreign platforms.

«This will create additional pressure on banks striving to operate legally,» she concluded.

The analytics director of Shard, Fedor Ivanov, mentioned that the implementation of the Central Bank’s initiative would represent a «major leap in regulation.» However, he expressed skepticism about the possibility of aligning with global standards in the current environment.

«Honestly, it’s hard to believe that this could happen, since not all jurisdictions where cryptocurrency is regulated even allow banks to invest directly in it,» Ivanov pointed out.

Simultaneously, the Central Bank must establish an entire reporting system from scratch so that any bank dealing with digital assets can report to the regulator. Organizing such a streamlined system in a short timeframe is extremely challenging, the expert stated.