- Stablecoins are distinct from cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, says official.
- New crypto rules set to come into force on July 1.
- Central bank thinks stablecoins can help Russian firms bypass sanctions.
Moscow is accelerating its crypto pivot.
Ministry of Finance officials say that they’re mulling the introduction of a new stablecoin bill.
The ministry said it wants to launch a separate stablecoin bill, rather than bundle fiat-pegged assets with the new rules of a forthcoming crypto exchange law.
“Stablecoins “hold enormous — even colossal — potential,” said Alexey Yakovlev, the director of the Ministry of Finance’s Department of Financial Policy, Russian media outlet RBC reported.
Moscow has already earmarked stablecoins as a potential sanctions-busting tool, as the Kremlin races to legalise a sector that remains largely in the grey zone.
Talks of the new bill come a year after the US greenlit the Genius Act, a landmark stablecoin bill. Issued stablecoins have surged over 51% since the start of 2025 to reach a value of $311 billion, according to DefiLlama data.
‘Colossal potential’
Yakovlev said Moscow wants to tackle stablecoin regulation as soon as the State Duma has approved a law that will ban citizens from trading crypto on platforms that do not have operating permits.
This bill, which lawmakers will present to the State Duma in the spring session, will likely come into force as early as July, RBC reported.
“Once we launch the main [crypto] regulations, we will be able to [tackle stablecoin regulation] so we can regulate them separately and in a segregated manner,” Yakovlev said.
Currently, stablecoins have no legal status under Russian law. The ministry said it wants to redress this as soon as possible.
“For now, the consensus is that stablecoins are not unlike a form of digital currency,” the ministry official said. “But we intend to continue this discussion with the central bank and market players.”
Yakovlev said the government wants to ensure stablecoins “serve economic interests, primarily our domestic ones” before making a final decision on how to regulate stablecoin issuance.
The central bank has waded into the stablecoin debate before. It has created a category of approved “foreign digital rights,” which it said could “include certain cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins.”
Provided they meet central bank approval, this means the government could approve certain stablecoins as acceptable forms of payment in cross-border transactions.
The first stablecoin to be granted “foreign digital rights” status was the ruble-pegged A7A5 stablecoin, which the central bank approved for use in overseas trade in October.
Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.
