Russian Banks Now Tracking Every Crypto Transfer: New Surveillance Era Begins

Russian financial institutions just flipped the switch on comprehensive crypto monitoring—and the implications ripple far beyond Moscow.

The Compliance Hammer Drops

Forget discreet digital wallets. A sweeping mandate now forces banks to log, analyze, and report detailed data on every cryptocurrency-related transaction crossing their ledgers. This isn't light oversight; it's a full-scale financial surveillance operation targeting the crypto ecosystem.

Why the Sudden Scrutiny?

Governments hate financial blind spots. The move plugs a major transparency gap, bringing crypto flows under the same microscope as traditional currency. It transforms banks from passive observers into active intelligence gatherers on digital asset movements.

The Global Ripple Effect

Watch other nations follow suit. When a major economy implements granular crypto tracking, it sets a regulatory precedent that often spreads. This creates new compliance hurdles for exchanges, traders, and anyone moving digital assets across borders.

The irony? Traditional finance spent decades building opaque offshore havens, but now positions crypto transparency as a moral imperative—a classic case of regulatory catch-up disguised as virtue. The genie's out of the bottle, and it's wearing a government-issued tracking device.

Bank of Russia wants to know more about citizens’ crypto activities

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is preparing amendments to the reporting rules for financial institutions regarding money transfers initiated by private individuals.

The upcoming requirements will also apply to banking operations related to cryptocurrency, local media revealed this week, quoting a draft regulation released by the authority.

It will compel banks to share comprehensive information about almost all international monetary transactions conducted by Russian citizens, the crypto news outlet Bits.media wrote on Thursday.

The items listed in the document include the status of both the sender and the receiver – it should be clear whether they are residents of the Russian Federation or another jurisdiction.

The exact method used to transfer the funds, the intermediary employed to process the transaction, as well as the fees charged, must be known.

The transaction’s type and source, which may include cash, a bank account, credit or debit card, and other electronic means, shall be stated, too.

Furthermore, purchases and sales of cryptocurrency will have to be reported separately, the Interfax news agency noted in its report on the changes.

A dedicated column will also be devoted to data on deals involving digital rights or tokenized real assets like securities and precious metals, as defined in the Russian law “On Digital Financial Assets” (DFAs), and similar instruments such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Besides investments and transfers of digital currencies and assets, purchases of video games and payments for computer, insurance, and communication services, among others, will also be recorded and reported in more detail.

Reporting standards update spurred by new economic phenomena

The Bank of Russia explains the reform in its reporting rules with the need to reflect new economic phenomena in the nation’s balance of payments, international investment position, and external debt.

Transactions and proceeds related to cryptocurrency mining, which was recognized as a legitimate industrial activity and regulated in late 2024, provide one such example.

In December 2025, a member of the Kremlin administration noted that income generated in the sector is already significant enough to consider it a “hidden export,” influencing the country’s currency market.

The high-ranking aide to President Putin suggested adding it to the balance of payments. The head of the Russian central bank later admitted the industry is actually making the ruble stronger.

The authorities in Moscow now want to properly regulate other crypto-related activities as well, like crypto investment and trading.

In late December, the CBR published the highlights of its new regulatory concept for the market, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

The plan is to grant digital currencies such as Bitcoin and ethereum the status of “monetary assets” and expand investor access to include ordinary Russians.

Ahead of the adoption of the already drafted legislation, which is expected by the summer, the central bank also intends to conduct a thorough analysis of the financial market to identify crypto-linked transactions.

The probe will cover several banks, which will be asked to provide information on their investments in digital assets and lending to crypto companies.

The main goal of the study is to determine the extent to which Russia’s regulated institutions are exposed to cryptocurrencies. The monetary policy regulator announced in October that it will allow commercial banks to work with crypto assets.

Join a premium crypto trading community free for 30 days - normally $100/mo.