Russia’s Ministry of Finance has advanced a draft law that would tax cryptocurrency income broadly in line with securities investments, according to RBC business portal citing the draft legislation approved by a special government commission.

Russia passed legislation on crypto mining in August 2024, ending years of regulatory limbo in the sector. 

In 2025, the CBR rolled out the three-year experimental legal regime (ELR) that proposed limited access to crypto markets for qualified investors with assets above RUB100mn ($1.42mn) or income over RUB50mn. 

The CBR also implemented new capital and exposure rules for Russian banks dealing with crypto-assets starting in 2026.

Reportedly, the Finance Ministry now seeks to subject the crypto gains to resident personal income tax set at 13%, rising to 15% on annual income above RUB2.4mn ($26,000), while non-residents would pay 30% income tax rate, according to Vedomosti daily report on the same bill. 

The draft is reportedly designed as a companion bill to the wider law on Digital Currency and Digital Rights, which has not yet been adopted. 

Together, the measures would make larger crypto transactions by individuals possible only through identified users and licensed infrastructure such as crypto exchangers, digital depositaries, brokers and trust managers. 

Under the draft, tax on so-called white market crypto assets would be levied on financial results after allowable expenses, similar to the treatment of securities. A key change is that individuals would no longer be primarily responsible for self-reporting tax on transactions conducted through the licensed domestic system. 

Instead, brokers and managers would act as tax agents and withhold tax automatically, reportedly without deferral options for retail investors. Until now, crypto investors generally had to file declarations directly with the Federal Tax Service.

The bill also addresses foreign digital rights instruments. In such cases, the tax agent would be a digital depositary. These transactions, together with cryptocurrency exchange operations, would be exempt from VAT. 

Analysts cited by RBC business portal said this is significant because the definition of foreign digital rights reportedly extends beyond debt-like instruments and crypto analogues of coupons or dividends to include stablecoins. 

If confirmed in the final text, operations involving stablecoins would therefore avoid VAT, reducing barriers for one of the most widely used forms of digital settlement in Russia.

Legal and industry experts cited in the reports said several practical issues remain unresolved. These include how to calculate gains when converting one cryptocurrency into another, how to verify acquisition costs across multiple platforms, which exchange rate should apply for tax purposes, how commissions should be treated, and how transfers between wallets owned by the same person should be handled.