Russia says citizens can use self-custody crypto wallets, but only outside its jurisdiction

The Bank of Russia, the country's central bank, says Russian citizens may be able to store crypto in self-custody wallets.

But only outside Russian jurisdiction.

Vladimir Chistyukhin, the Bank of Russia's first deputy governor, said at the regulator's Financial Congress in St. Petersburg that Russia's domestic crypto framework still allows storage only through custodial wallets, according to a Thursday report from Russian state news agency TASS.

• Custodial wallets mean crypto accounts held through intermediaries, such as exchanges or other financial platforms. In other words, the user doesn't fully control the crypto because the private keys are held by the custodian, which can approve or freeze access depending on its rules and legal obligations.
• Non-custodial wallets, also called self-custody wallets, let users control their own private keys without a financial intermediary, though the apps themselves can still depend on third-party infrastructure to display balances, connect to blockchains and send transactions.

Chistyukhin said the proposed framework gives users a way to move outside Russian jurisdiction and beyond Russian financial intermediaries, where they would be able to use crypto in non-custodial wallets.

• The Bank of Russia prepared a crypto regulation concept in December 2025 that would allow both qualified and non-qualified investors to buy crypto even though the watchdog still treats crypto as a high-risk instrument.
• Under that concept, cryptocurrencies and stablecoins would be recognized as currency valuables, which means they could be bought and sold, but couldn't be used for payments inside Russia.
• Non-qualified investors would be allowed to buy only the most liquid cryptocurrencies that meet legal criteria, and only after passing a risk-awareness test through an intermediary. Their purchases would also be capped at 300,000 Russian rubles (about $3,833 as of press time) per year.