Russia: end of P2P crypto and withdrawals to personal wallets on July 1, 2027

Legal until June 30, 2027, prohibited the next day. The Bank of Russia published its reading of the crypto law on Monday, October 12. Direct exchanges between individuals, the famous P2P crypto which has supplied the country with USDT since the departure of Binance, are only tolerated until July 1, 2027. And from today, an account opened with an approved intermediary cannot send crypto to the personal wallet of its holder. The law signed by Vladimir Putin on August 4 opened trading to everyone. Its instructions for use close it to intermediaries.

Key Points

P2P crypto means buying or selling to another person, without a platform holding the funds. Article 30 of Law 282-FZ removes it from authorized operations on July 1, 2027.

Banks will have to refuse transfers to foreign platforms and the rubles returning from them.

Ten exchange operators and six depositories are already on the register, Sberbank opens on December 1.

P2P crypto: what are we talking about

P2P means peer-to-peer. On a classic exchange, the buyer deals with the platform. In P2P, he deals with another person. The seller posts an ad, the buyer transfers rubles to their bank card, then the seller releases the USDT.

When a platform intervenes, Binance or Bybit for example, it only blocks the crypto in escrow while the money arrives. The ruble never passes through it. It goes from one bank account to another.

Since the 2022 sanctions and the sale of Binance Russia to CommEX in 2023, this is how the country supplies itself with USDT. This Tether stablecoin is permanently worth $1. In short, it serves as a digital dollar for those who no longer have a dollar account.

What the Bank of Russia closes on July 1, 2027

The reference text is Federal Law 282-FZ “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights”, in force since September 1. Article 30 lists what a resident can do without going through an approved professional. According to Decrypt's reading, exchanges between two natural persons appear in this list during the transition period. Then they disappear.

After this date, buying or selling must be done through a licensed broker or by an “exchange organization” registered with the central bank. In other words, an approved and supervised company, which identifies its customers and declares their transactions.

The detail that hurts is on the banking side. Andrei Tugarin, partner at GMT Legal, explains on Kommersant FM that Russian banks will have to refuse customers who fund a wallet on a foreign platform. They will also no longer be able to accept rubles coming out of it. However, without the ruble coming in and going out, P2P crypto no longer has any fuel.

Crypto payments remain prohibited in the territory. Only foreign trade benefits from an exception, assumed in the Duma as a tool for circumventing sanctions.

Personal wallets: transfer outside the regulated account is blocked

A point of vocabulary. A custodian wallet is an account held by a third party, exchange, bank or broker, which keeps the keys on behalf of the client. A non-custodial wallet is the opposite. The holder keeps the private key himself, in an application or in a physical Ledger-type box. No one can freeze these funds without it. The community calls this self-preservation, “not your keys, not your coins”.

It is exactly this passage that the second clarification targets. According to the frequently asked questions cited by Cointelegraph, an individual cannot transfer their crypto-assets from their account with an intermediary to a non-custodial wallet. Person-to-person transfers via depository addresses are also blocked, even to complete an exchange.

The closed door is the one that connects the regulated system to personal custody: what is purchased from an approved intermediary remains there. Crypto lending is only open to brokers, fiduciaries, exchange organizations and clearing houses.

Sberbank VTB and T-Invest take the place of P2P crypto

While the exit closes, the entrance is organized. The central bank published its first records on October 6, four exchange operators and five depositories, then ten and six a week later. Sberbank, VTB and T-Invest Lab are included there.

Sberbank will offer bitcoin, ether and USDT to its customers from December 1, directly in SberBank Online. The country expects 10 million new users in 2027 via this route.

Not everyone will have the same access. Russia is adopting the distinction it already applies on the stock market. On the one hand, qualified investors, who have assets, income or market experience. On the other, the unqualified, that is to say the vast majority of individuals.

For the latter, access requires a knowledge test and a reduced list of BTC, ETH and USDT. Added to this is a ceiling of 300,000 rubles per year and per intermediary, approximately $3,600. Qualified investors have no cap.