Russia limits crypto to 25% in exchanges’ capital calculations

Russia’s central bank wants to let financial intermediaries count crypto toward their capital requirements. There’s a catch: digital assets can’t exceed 25% of the total.

The Bank of Russia published a draft instruction on August 14 opening a public consultation on rules that would allow professional market participants, including brokers, asset managers, forex dealers, and crypto exchanges, to incorporate certain digital currencies into their own-funds calculations and capital-adequacy ratios. Comments are due by August 29, giving the industry roughly two weeks to weigh in before the broader crypto-market framework law takes effect on September 1.

What the draft actually says

The instruction is narrower than it might sound at first glance. Not every token qualifies. Only digital currencies that have been admitted to organized trading by Russian operators and recorded with a Russian digital depository make the cut. Bitcoin and Ethereum are explicitly named as examples of eligible assets.

Valuation isn’t left to the imagination, either. Firms must price qualifying crypto at fair value under International Financial Reporting Standards, factoring in both market and credit risks.

The 25% cap is the headline constraint. No matter how much crypto a firm holds, the aggregate share of digital assets included in capital calculations cannot exceed one quarter of total calculated assets.

The bigger legislative picture

The draft instruction doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s one piece of a broader crypto-market framework law signed by President Putin in early August 2026, with the full package scheduled to go live on September 1.

Why the 25% cap matters

Capital adequacy is the financial plumbing that keeps brokerages and exchanges solvent during market stress. When a firm calculates its capital ratio, it’s essentially proving to the regulator that it has enough of a financial cushion to absorb losses and keep operating.

The 25% threshold represents a compromise. Firms get to diversify their capital base and benefit from crypto’s potential upside. But the regulator ensures that at least 75% of that capital cushion is composed of more traditional assets. If Bitcoin were to crash 50% tomorrow, a firm whose crypto exposure was capped at a quarter of its capital would take a painful but survivable hit.

For context, banking regulators in most Western economies have taken a far more conservative approach. The Basel Committee’s framework subjects certain crypto exposures to a 1,250% risk weight, effectively making it punitive for banks to hold unbacked tokens on their balance sheets. Russia’s 25% inclusion cap is permissive by comparison, though it applies to a different category of financial entity: securities brokers and exchanges rather than deposit-taking banks.

What this means for the market

The most immediate effect is a formalization of crypto’s role in Russian capital markets. Professional participants who already hold Bitcoin and Ethereum now have a regulatory pathway to reflect those holdings in their capital ratios. The explicit mention of Bitcoin and Ethereum by name removes ambiguity about which assets qualify.

The IFRS fair-value requirement means these holdings will be marked to market, introducing volatility into reported capital ratios. During a crypto downturn, firms could see their capital adequacy shrink quickly, potentially triggering regulatory action or forced selling.

The September 1 deadline also creates a near-term compliance scramble. Firms that want to take advantage of the new rules need custody arrangements with a Russian digital depository, IFRS-compliant valuation processes, and risk-management frameworks that satisfy the central bank’s standards.

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