Russia taxes crypto for individuals as property since 2024 — on disposal, not on holding. Whether your transactions are taxable, how to compute the gain without clean records, and readiness for exchanges becoming tax agents in July 2026 are the questions.
Selling, swapping crypto-to-crypto and mining can each trigger NDFL — holding and inheriting don't. Which of your transactions are taxable is the first question.
The gain is computed on documented cost — without records, the full disposal value can be taxed, so reconstructing the transaction log matters.
Russia legalised the ownership, trading and mining of cryptocurrency several years ago while simultaneously banning its use as a means of payment — and from late 2024 it formally classified digital currency as property for tax purposes. For individuals, this means crypto gains are taxable income, mining is a registered activity, and the rules are tightening further through 2026 as licensed exchanges begin acting as tax agents. This guide sets out how individuals — including foreign nationals resident or non-resident in Russia — are taxed on digital assets in 2026.
The legal framework has been built up in stages over several years:
Federal Law No. 259-FZ (2020): introduced the concept of "digital currency" (цифровая валюта) and confirmed that it cannot be used as a means of payment for goods or services within Russia — but did not restrict the right to own, buy, sell, gift or inherit it.
Federal Law No. 221-FZ (August 2024): legalised cryptocurrency mining as an activity and introduced a registration requirement with the Federal Tax Service (FTS) for miners.
Federal Law No. 418-FZ (November 2024): classified digital currency as property under Article 38 of the Tax Code, establishing the framework for how income from digital currency is taxed.
Federal Law No. 38-FZ (February 2026): addressed seizure and arrest procedures for digital assets — relevant primarily in enforcement and dispute contexts.
The practical upshot: you may legally own, buy, sell, exchange, gift and inherit cryptocurrency in Russia, and hold it as an investment asset — but you cannot pay for goods or services with it domestically. For tax purposes it is treated broadly like any other property, similar to securities or foreign currency holdings.
Operations with digital currency — purchase, sale, exchange and mining — are not subject to VAT. This applies across the board, regardless of whether the counterparty is an individual, an individual entrepreneur or a company.
For an individual who is not registered as an entrepreneur, a taxable event for NDFL purposes arises on:
Sale of digital currency for fiat currency (rubles or foreign currency);
Exchange of one digital asset for another — including crypto-to-crypto trades, which are treated as a disposal of the asset given up;
Gift of digital currency to anyone other than a close relative (gifts between close relatives — spouses, parents and children, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren — are not taxable);
Receipt through mining, at the point the miner obtains the right to dispose of the newly mined coins (see below);
"Material benefit" (материальная выгода) — where digital currency is acquired from a related party at a price below market value, the difference between market value and the price paid is treated as taxable income.
Simply holding cryptocurrency — without selling, exchanging or otherwise disposing of it — is not itself a taxable event. Unrealised gains are not taxed. Inheritance of digital currency is also not a taxable event for the recipient (though the eventual sale by the heir will be, with the cost basis determined by the rules on inherited property).
As with other forms of investment income, the rate that applies to crypto gains depends on the individual's tax residency status — determined by the same 183-day rule that applies generally (see our guide to personal income tax for foreign individuals).
Pick your situation — we'll tell you where you stand:
The taxable gain is calculated as the difference between the disposal proceeds (or market value received in an exchange) and the documented acquisition cost of the specific units disposed of. Acquisition cost includes the purchase price plus any directly related transaction fees. Where acquisition cost cannot be documented, the entire disposal proceeds may be treated as the taxable amount — which is why record-keeping (covered below) matters so much in practice.
Mining is legal for both individuals and legal entities, subject to registration with the FTS mining registry introduced under 221-FZ. The tax treatment has a specific timing rule that differs from a simple purchase:
Individuals (not registered as entrepreneurs) and individual entrepreneurs on the general taxation regime (ОСН) pay NDFL on mining-related income. Importantly, simplified regimes commonly used by small businesses and the self-employed — USN, AUSN, PSN and the self-employed tax (НПД) — cannot be applied to mining or to the purchase and sale of digital currency. Anyone considering registering as an individual entrepreneur to formalise crypto activity needs to factor this restriction into the choice of tax regime.
Until now, the reporting burden for individual crypto investors has fallen largely on self-declaration. Foreign exchanges and wallet providers generally do not report transaction data to the Russian FTS, so an individual realising a gain has needed to calculate it themselves and declare it via the annual 3-NDFL return, due by 30 April of the following year.
From 1 July 2026, licensed Russian intermediaries — exchanges and brokers operating within the new regulatory perimeter — are required to act as tax agents under Article 226 of the Tax Code: calculating and withholding NDFL automatically on each sale processed through the platform, in the same way a broker withholds tax on securities transactions today.
A further draft law on digital currency and digital rights was introduced to the State Duma in April 2026, aimed at clarifying the obligations of ordinary citizens holding cryptocurrency. As this legislation is still moving through the process, individuals with significant crypto holdings should expect further procedural detail to be confirmed during 2026 and should not assume the current self-declaration approach will remain unchanged indefinitely.
For transactions on platforms that fall outside the new licensed-intermediary perimeter — including most foreign exchanges — self-declaration via 3-NDFL is likely to remain the operative mechanism for the foreseeable future, regardless of how the licensed-intermediary regime develops.
Because the taxable gain depends on being able to document acquisition cost, and because most foreign exchanges will not provide Russian-format tax certificates, individuals holding meaningful crypto positions while resident (or potentially becoming resident) in Russia should maintain:
A transaction log recording the date, asset, quantity, price in the transaction currency and ruble-equivalent value (at the Central Bank rate on the transaction date) for every purchase, sale and exchange;
Exchange statements or wallet export records supporting each entry in the log;
A crypto-to-crypto swap is a disposal and can be taxable, and without cost records the FTS may tax the full value rather than the gain. Reconstructing the transaction log to establish cost is what limits the liability — worth doing before it's asked for.
Mining has its own tax and, increasingly, registration requirements. If you mine, the received crypto and its later disposal both have tax consequences, so understanding the position before July 2026 — when exchanges become tax agents — is worth it.
That's the common obstacle — without cost basis, the full disposal value can be taxed. There are ways to reconstruct or evidence cost, and getting the position documented before the tax-agent regime lands is far cheaper than after.
This explains how Russia taxes crypto for individuals — property since 2024, taxed on disposal. Your question is whether your specific transactions are taxable, how to compute the gain without clean records, and how to be ready before exchanges become tax agents in July 2026.
Traded across foreign exchanges? Getting the position documented before July 2026 is far cheaper than reconstructing it after.
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