Russian authorities have set a new limit on how much cryptocurrency exchanges can count toward their capital calculations — 25%, down from whatever they were using before. The rule, confirmed this week, applies to how exchanges assess their own financial health for regulatory purposes.
The new threshold
Under the measure, crypto assets can make up no more than a quarter of an exchange's capital. That's a hard ceiling, not a guideline. Anything above 25% gets discounted or excluded entirely when the exchange reports its capital position to regulators.
The exact wording of the rule hasn't been published in full, but the number is clear. Exchanges that hold a large chunk of their reserves in bitcoin or other digital assets will need to either raise more fiat capital or trim their crypto holdings to stay compliant.
Capital calculations aren't just paperwork. They determine how much of a buffer an exchange has against losses, and they're a key part of how regulators judge whether a firm can survive a market downturn. By capping crypto at 25%, Russian authorities are signaling they don't want exchanges leaning too heavily on volatile digital assets as a safety net.
The move is a departure from the hands-off approach some regulators have taken toward crypto. It also lands at an awkward time for the industry, which has spent the past year trying to position digital assets as legitimate financial infrastructure. A cap like this suggests the opposite: that crypto is risky enough to be discounted in the most basic financial metric.
It's still unclear when the rule takes effect or how strictly it will be enforced. Exchanges operating in Russia will likely need to adjust their balance sheets ahead of the next reporting cycle. The regulator hasn't announced a grace period, so firms may have to move quickly.
The cap applies to capital calculations only — it doesn't ban exchanges from holding crypto, nor does it restrict how much they can trade. But it's a clear signal that Russian authorities see crypto as a liability, not an asset, when it comes to financial stability.
For now, exchanges are left to figure out the logistics. Whether they'll shift more holdings into fiat or lobby for a softer threshold remains an open question.
