Interesting development from Moscow: the Bank of Russia is about to require citizens to declare all crypto assets they hold abroad. The news broke on April 15th, and the regulatory framework will come into effect in July.

Basically, they are not banning anyone from owning cryptocurrencies in foreign wallets — the point is transparency. Those with crypto funds outside Russian borders will have to report it to the Federal Tax Service. It’s a move aimed at strengthening KYC controls on trading platforms, according to Vladimir Chistyukhin, one of the central bank’s executives.

The logic is clear: more transparency on crypto transactions means fewer gray areas for dubious operations. It’s not a crackdown on cryptocurrencies themselves, but rather an attempt to bring the sector under tighter regulatory control.

For those with significant crypto holdings, this means dealing with Russian bureaucracy in the coming months. It’s not the first country to move in this direction — the global trend is toward stricter regulation of the crypto sector. We’ll see how it unfolds when the new rules actually come into force.