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Russia has made taxpayer identification numbers a mandatory part of opening digital depository accounts used to record cryptocurrencies and digital rights as authorities tighten identity checks across the country’s newly regulated crypto market.
Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service, known as Rosfinmonitoring, said clients will have to provide their individual taxpayer number, or INN, when opening an account with a Russian digital depository, according to comments from adviser to the agency’s director Vlada Gracheva on Sept. 9.
The requirement makes the tax number a compulsory identifier for crypto accounts, even though Russian banks do not generally require an INN when a customer opens an ordinary bank account.
“For the anti-money laundering system, the client’s INN becomes a new mandatory, specifically mandatory, identifier,” Gracheva said. “This is to ensure the transparency of transactions carried out with cryptocurrency.”
An INN assigned to an individual contains 12 digits and remains with the taxpayer even if their address, surname or other passport information changes. The number is commonly used for tax and employment purposes in Russia.
Tax IDs become mandatory for Russian crypto accounts
Gracheva said the requirement forms part of the anti-money laundering controls being applied to cryptocurrency activity, placing the tax identifier directly into the customer identification process for digital depositories.
The measure comes just days after Russia’s regulated crypto market formally opened on Sept. 1 under the country’s first comprehensive framework for cryptocurrency trading, custody and cross-border settlements, as crypto.news previously reported.
Digital depositories form a key part of that system because they maintain records of clients’ cryptocurrency and digital rights. The Bank of Russia had already proposed detailed rules for depositories and exchanges in July, including requirements governing digital currency accounts, capital and registration.
Russia’s updated anti-money laundering law prohibits digital depositories and operators of information systems that issue digital financial assets from opening digital accounts for anonymous clients or people using fictitious names.
For transactions exceeding 60,000 rubles, the rules require covered entities to collect and transmit more detailed information about the parties involved. For an individual payer, the required information can include the person’s full name, digital account number or wallet identifier, residential or registered address, date of birth and taxpayer identification number where applicable.
Information required for an individual recipient can include their full name, digital account or address identifier, country and city of residence and INN where available. Legal entities face separate identification requirements covering their names, digital account or address identifiers, locations and taxpayer numbers.
Transactions of 60,000 rubles or less remain subject to a smaller set of information requirements, including the names of individuals and their digital account numbers or address identifiers. If a covered institution suspects that a smaller transaction involves money laundering or terrorist financing, the more extensive identification requirements apply.
Russia expands crypto oversight under new market law
The identification rules form part of the regulatory system introduced after President Vladimir Putin signed Russia’s crypto law on Aug. 4.
Core provisions took effect on Sept. 1, bringing crypto exchanges, brokers, digital depositories and other intermediaries into a supervised domestic market.
Non-qualified investors must pass a knowledge test and can purchase up to 300,000 rubles of eligible cryptocurrencies per year through each intermediary. Qualified investors must undergo testing as well but do not face the same annual purchase ceiling.
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Cryptocurrency remains prohibited as a payment method for ordinary goods and services inside Russia, while the new legal framework permits its use for certain cross-border settlements.
Companies already operating crypto exchange services have been given a transition period to comply with the new regime, with existing providers required to complete registration by July 1, 2027.
Large financial institutions are preparing their own services under the framework. Sberbank plans to introduce crypto trading, custody and settlement infrastructure and launch a digital depository by Dec. 1, though it has yet to disclose the assets, customer eligibility rules, fees or withdrawal conditions for the service.
Bank accounts could be linked to INNs as well
The mandatory INN requirement for digital depositories comes as Russian authorities work on a separate plan to connect taxpayer numbers with bank accounts.
The Bank of Russia has been developing the mechanism as part of preparations for its Antidrop platform, which is scheduled to launch in 2027. The system is intended to help identify accounts used by so-called money mules, or individuals who allow their banking details to be used to receive or transfer illicit funds.
For conventional banking services, an INN has not traditionally been a mandatory identifier in the same way. Customers can generally open bank and brokerage accounts or obtain credit without providing the number.
Crypto depositories will operate under stricter identification rules as Rosfinmonitoring receives new oversight powers covering cryptocurrency transactions.
Federal Law No. 283-FZ, signed on Aug. 4, amended Russia’s anti-money laundering legislation to introduce specific duties for digital depositories and other entities handling digital currencies and digital rights.
The law requires covered institutions to maintain and transfer prescribed information during crypto transactions and bars them from servicing anonymous digital accounts. Its crypto-related anti-money laundering provisions took effect on Sept. 1 alongside the main regulated trading framework.
Russia has been building the supporting infrastructure while the rules enter force. The Bank of Russia will maintain official registers of approved market participants, while banks, brokers, asset managers, exchanges and digital depositories will operate under requirements applicable to their roles in the market.
SberCIB Investment Research estimated in late August that Russia’s regulated crypto market could process between 3.5 trillion and 4 trillion rubles in trading during its first year. Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov said annual volume could reach around 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029.
Existing crypto service providers have until July 2027 to complete registration, while later provisions governing certain transfer restrictions and nonresident digital depositories are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2027.
Source: cryptonews.net