Russia will prohibit direct peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency transactions between individuals starting next year, requiring citizens to use authorized intermediaries for such trades. The change would make centrally supervised intermediaries the only legal channel for exchanging crypto between individuals.

The restriction will end individuals' ability to exchange crypto assets directly without an intermediary, the Bank of Russia, the country's central bank, explained in guidance updated Monday. The regulator confirmed that such transactions will remain permitted only until July 1, 2027, leaving a window in which direct settlement between individuals is still allowed before the ban takes effect.

The guidance also clarified that individuals may not transfer crypto assets from their digital accounts to their own non-custodial, or self-custodial, wallets. Taken together, the two restrictions would keep both the trading and the safekeeping of individuals' crypto within supervised channels, since holdings on platform accounts could no longer be moved into wallets the users control directly.

The move comes as Russia formalizes its crypto market under central bank supervision. On Monday, the Bank of Russia authorized Sberbank, the country's largest bank, to offer crypto exchange services after earlier approving it as a digital asset custodian. The combination of exchange and custody approvals for the country's largest bank reflects the intermediary-centered structure the new regime is built around.

The approvals follow Russia's new crypto rules, which came into force on Sept. 1 and brought exchange operators and custodians under central bank oversight. The country also continues to prohibit cryptocurrency payments for goods and services, a restriction in place since its digital assets law took effect, meaning crypto can be traded through supervised platforms but still cannot function as a means of payment. The central bank has historically advocated a restrictive approach to cryptocurrencies, including a 2022 proposal to ban them outright.

Industry executives have previously told Cointelegraph that restrictions on P2P crypto trading and non-custodial wallets may be difficult to enforce. Jan3 CEO Samson Mow said P2P trading is more resilient to regulatory crackdowns than centralized platforms, while SatoshiLabs executive Stepan Uherik said wallet app bans would leave hardware and desktop wallets unaffected. Those concerns raise the question of how the prohibitions will be enforced in practice as the July 2027 cutoff approaches.

Related: Russia clears first crypto exchanges, custodians under new law