@bob would be the easiest. Won’t have to circumvent / be geoblocked from accessing western financial systems.
When I get home, I will also post an easy way to send to self [if you have a Rus bank account] or to family/ friends to their bank account.
I have been trying to get some USDT to a friend and found out hopefully some helpful information for those transferring to Russia.
- Buy / get your USDT
- Open / register for a Russian exchange. (I’m working with AWX - but ones that offer “cash in” options will work
- If self transferring - open one with your Russian credentials (RU phone number, bank account etc) - if transferring to friend family - have them register their information.
- Transfer USDT to the exchange. (NO KYC needed for this as you are not buying or selling)
- Transfer to the other account (Russian side)
- Using the “Cash in” transfer into the Russian Bank (T-Bank / Alfa 15 000 min Avangard 350 000 min RUB)
As far as the 115/61 FZ… this was stated:
Мы пополняем карты методом CASH IN - то есть пополнение происходит наличными через банкомат, что гарантирует чистоту поступаемых средств) Выглядит, как пополнение карты самому себе, что защищает от блокировки)
Essentially - they take cash and deposit through the atm and it looks less suspicious [as if you were making a atm deposit yourself
Will need to probably break it up depending on amount. We were told that the ATM could only deposit 20 000 rub a day.
@“Irena” Telegram cryptowallet p2p works very well and efficient
@bob I never said that roubles come from a crypto exchange. Re-read my previous post. As far as banks “blocking” someone’s account - I don’t know what can happen, or not happen. I try to have several options (banks) and not put all my eggs in one basket.
How do you guys plan to deal with the new 30% withholding tax on cryptocurrency transfers and the new prohibition on cryptocurrency-to-cash conversions? Please see this link for more information. Thank you.
P.S. I was in Moscow for six months last summer and had a great time. I expect to be in St. Petersburg for four to six months this year. Let me know if you want to connect. My secondary telegram is NomadicHedgie
@NomadicHedgie the new 30% withholding tax on cryptocurrency transfers and the new prohibition on cryptocurrency-to-cash conversions?
KYC enforcement and no cash is not a problem if you are Gosuslugi+EBS registered.
As for the 30% tax, the article writes:
“non-residents (individuals spending fewer than 183 days in Russia per year) are subject to a flat 30% tax rate on income sourced from within the country.”
transfer from outside the country like for instance XMR → ₽ are not sourced from within the country. I will have to read the text of law…
Also author of the articles confuses expat and traveler:
“For a foreign non-resident (such as an expat or traveler) looking to move funds into the country via crypto”
an expatriate is a foreign resident. To say it in other words, an immigrant, or alien resident. A traveler is not. The word is used by immigrants from richer countries to poorer countries, for themselves, with a cool connotation, instead of the word immigrant.
My concern is more, as a EU person, how much the level of tracking and limitations in buying crypto, the EU will set, with the coming combo of DSA+digital €.
@antoniob transfer from outside the country like for instance XMR → ₽ are not sourced from within the country. I will have to read the text of law…
The relevant issue here is where the roubles are sourced from, not where the cryptocurrency is sourced from. The Russian authorities will regard any roubles you receive from a Russian-based individual or entity as subject to their new rules. In practice, it is hard to source roubles any other way (any offshore exchange offering to sell roubles for cryptocurrency must be using a Russian bank account).
@antoniob Also author of the articles confuses expat and traveler:
“For a foreign non-resident (such as an expat or traveler) looking to move funds into the country via crypto”
an expatriate is a foreign resident.
“Resident” and “non-resident” in this context refers to tax status, which is not related to immigration status. A tax resident is anyone physically present in Russia for at least 183 days a year, and a non-resident is anyone in Russia for less than 183 days a year.
Where I suspect the Gemini article is confused is the idea that a non-resident has to pay 30% tax on the entire sales proceeds, not on the profit (capital gain). I think, in fact, that when the tax service says that non-residents have “no right to deductions”, this in fact refers to various standard tax reliefs (apparently relating to the medical and social status of the taxpayer), not to the cost of purchasing the cryptocurrency, which is obviously fundamental to any calculation of capital gains.
But it also looks like the Russian authorities aim to turn all legal crypto exchanges operating in Russia into tax agents (meaning they automatically deduct the relevant tax when they buy cryptocurrency off you). If you bought the cryptocurrency outside Russia, the exchange won’t have any evidence of how much you have spent to acquire it. So maybe they will automatically deduct 30% tax on the entire sale and you would then need to submit detailed evidence to the tax service to reclaim the purchase cost!
I think the Gemini article is also a bit hazy about the dates when the new rules come into force. I think relevant changes to the Russian tax code were already introduced last year. But the licencing of approved crypto exchanges will take more than a year to implement. I think that unlicensed crypto-exchanges will be allowed to continue operating until 1 July 2027.
@Jabod The relevant issue here is where the roubles are sourced from, not where the cryptocurrency is sourced from. The Russian authorities will regard any roubles you receive from a Russian-based individual or entity as subject to their new rules. In practice, it is hard to source roubles any other way (any offshore exchange offering to sell roubles for cryptocurrency must be using a Russian bank account).
I send some XMR to Ivan who is Russian, he send me ₽ on my account at Sber. The transfer is internal inside Russia, between two Russian banks. The taxation would then be as per my status of non-residency. Makes no sense, because the money hasn’t left Russia. I rather wonder what about Ivan, not when he trades XMR to ₽ , but the other way around ₽ to $/€/etc through a crypto step.
@Jabod Resident" and “non-resident” in this context refers to tax status, which is not related to immigration status. A tax resident is anyone physically present in Russia for at least 183 days a year, and a non-resident is anyone in Russia for less than 183 days a year.
yes, what I was pointing to. if you stay more than the 180 days of a visa, then you are a resident, foreign or not. I was stressing that the article uses the word “expat” in a way that makes no sense. An “expat” is a foreigner with residency in the country, the correct word is immigrant. For instance Gulnara from Aktobe, Kazakhstanian lives and works in Russia. She is an immigrant, or foreign resident, has an INN and subjected to taxes on revenue, etc. Take John from New York in the same case, lives and works in Russia. Also an immigrant. But the weirdness is that John will speak of himself as an “expat”. See? I was pointing to an idiocy in some wording. Because such wording is used in the article, I question the intelligence of the author.
@antoniob I send some XMR to Ivan who is Russian, he send me ₽ on my account at Sber. The transfer is internal inside Russia, between two Russian banks. The taxation would then be as per my status of non-residency. Makes no sense, because the money hasn’t left Russia. I rather wonder what about Ivan, not when he trades XMR to ₽ , but the other way around ₽ to $/€/etc through a crypto step.
Not sure what you are saying here. Whether the money leaves Russia or not is not relevant to the tax. The tax in question is simply income tax (подоходный налог - НДФЛ): the same tax that most Russians pay at 13%. For non-residents with Russian income, the rate of this tax is a steep 30%.
Another problem in future is that it will no longer be a straightforward matter finding an “Ivan” who will sell you roubles. For example, large international exchanges with P2P platforms such as Bybit will probably be forced to stop providing services in Russia. The kind of little-known exchanges you see selling roubles on BestChange will also disappear (they would be committing a criminal offence after July 2027, and the major Russian banks will stop dealing with them).
Russia is trying to force everyone to buy or sell cryptocurrency only through licenced Russian exchanges. However, these exchanges will be much more likely to face Western sanctions than the international exchanges which presently dominate. So it may become hard to find an international platform willing to transfer your cryptocurrency to them.
@antoniob An “expat” is a foreigner with residency in the country, the correct word is immigrant.
They have different meanings. An “expat” is usually someone living abroad temporarily, even for many years, while an “immigrant” is usually someone who aims to live permanently in the country they have moved to. No one would say that America was built by expats, for example. I lived in Russia for 15 years but would never have described myself as an “immigrant” (nor would any of the many other Western expats I knew there, nearly all of whom have also now left).
The way Gemini AI used the term “expat” was simply as a example of someone who might be a non-tax-resident. An immigrant would be less likely to fall into this category as they are more likely to be tax residents (in Russia for more than 183 days a year).
@Jabod Not sure what you are saying here. Whether the money leaves Russia or not is not relevant to the tax. The tax in question is simply income tax (подоходный налог - НДФЛ): the same tax that most Russians pay at 13%. For non-residents with Russian income, the rate of this tax is a steep 30%.
to put it simply: it is allowed to bring in up to 10.000USD without customs declaration (more with customs processing). I take USD under 10.000 with me, go to Sber, change it to RUB to be credited on my account. Will Sber deduce 30% ? feels awkward because for border customs there no fee under 10.000.
@Jabod The kind of little-known exchanges you see selling roubles on BestChange will also disappear (they would be committing a criminal offence after July 2027, and the major Russian banks will stop dealing with them).
Russia is trying to force everyone to buy or sell cryptocurrency only through licenced Russian exchanges. However, these exchanges will be much more likely to face Western sanctions
yes this is clear. I have no concern at all being processed by Russian government exchange front-ends. To the contrary, this is why the possibility of a Gosuslugi profile, bank account, SIMs is a wonderful way to escape somewhat EU digital totalitarism. Because indeed the USA-EU exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT-VISA-Mastercard-etc and shared pool of phone operators system, means that EU can’t see me, track me when I am in the Russian system.
Of course the issue is what you mention: what grey bridging solutions can exist when both systems each on their side strengthen the control/tracking or crypto ?
Russian authorities are small players in this, here in Norway you get banned from using local based crypto platforms very easily. Even changing cash is done with lot of redtape and questions.
transactions with Russian state agencies may be banned if the coins on the USA-EU side become also fully state controlled. Ie. if you will be able to buy crypto only if you provide a reason and identification of buyer, that is validated by the system. This is actually what EU Commission is working on and it is already implemented at some countries .
There will be weak points allowing workarounds but not trivial, and at some cost of course.
@antoniob to put it simply: it is allowed to bring in up to 10.000USD without customs declaration (more with customs processing). I take USD under 10.000 with me, go to Sber, change it to RUB to be credited on my account. Will Sber deduce 30% ? feels awkward because for border customs there no fee under 10.000.
No, there is no tax to pay in this case. Russian tax rules treat fiat currencies completely differently from cryptocurrencies. When you convert dollars into roubles you are considered to be converting two things of equal value with no profit to you and therefore no tax to pay.
This would also be true if you had actually made a profit from holding the dollars for a while (i.e. if the dollars had gone up in value against the rouble). Individuals are not required to report this kind of forex gain or pay any tax on it (the rules are different for companies). I think this is true in most countries.
One of the points about the new cryptocurrency regime in Russia is that cryptocurrencies are not being treated as mediums of exchange. They are being treated as property (имущество), and therefore subject to taxation rules similar to those that apply to securities and real estate. If they go up in value you are supposed to pay tax on the capital gain.
This might not seem like a big problem if the capital gain were calcualted fairly (especially if you buy cryptocurrency and then sell it more or less immediately, when any capital gain will be minimal). But there are a couple of issues.
One is that the new licenced crypto exchanges will supposedly collect the tax owing on behalf of the Russian government. So how are they going to calculate it? The exchange will not have a record of the purchase costs and probably won’t regard it as their business to go through all your records and calculations. They might therefore deduct 30% on the full sale value and then tell you to claim back the purchase costs from the tax authorities.
Even if the Russian tax authorities are reasonable about this and tax you only on your profit, this will probably require a lot of tedious record-keeping and reporting - something that rather undermines the atttaction of using cryptocurrency for international transfers.
No one actually knows how all this will work in practice. It seems plausible that, over time, reason will prevail and the rules will be simplified. I expect the new exhanges will lobby for this kind of simplification (as we have seen with the phone companies and the rules on foreigners acquiring Russian SIM cards). But there is a lot of consternation at the moment (the article flagged by NomadicHedgie is just one example), because of all the uncertainty over how these rules will work.
@Jabod No, there is no tax to pay in this case. Russian tax rules treat fiat currencies completely differently from cryptocurrencies. …/…
One of the points about the new cryptocurrency regime in Russia is that cryptocurrencies are not being treated as mediums of exchange. They are being treated as property (имущество), and therefore subject to taxation rules similar to those that apply to securities and real estate. If they go up in value you are supposed to pay tax on the capital gain.
in such case, ie. property value and financial products, elsewhere there are usually thresholds and rates grids, sometimes progressive. A flat rate of 30% without threshold seems weird, unless the law will come with more details. But then if it will be so, so it is.
by now I am more concerned by the level of digital control of EU regulations with the fresh 20th “sanctions” package. There are already local limitations in recent years. Here in Norway the level of control, tracking and bans for using crypto coins may surprise you. It will be too long to expose details. Basically it is impossible to send coins to self-custody wallets from a Norwegian platform, only to other custodial wallets on a set of authorized platforms. Identity and reasons for incoming and outgoing transactions must be provided (who you send to and for what). I am KYC-ed on other platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, etc, otherwise it would be difficult to exchange coin for RUB to refill my MIR online.
That said I am every two/three months in Russia, so can bring USD and change, in the worst case. One hour flight to Gdansk and the bus to Kaliningrad.
the recent 20th sanctions package of EU is going the Norwegian way. They are surveying exchanges platforms in order to establish ban lists. Some big players have already be banned, the case of Payeer, who were based in the Baltics, ie. Baltic Russians, ie. some EU citizens but bridging with Russian bank accounts, and had to shut down. So when proper state regulated Russian exchanges will be set by the new regulation, as you mentioned, they WILL of course be blacklisted by EU.
Are there ways to send money to Russia in app through the golden crown if I opened a Kazakh or Kyzyrg bank account?
Better to open a Georgian bank account with Credo then you can use. Easy transfers into the Georgian account from anywhere then onwards to Russia using as you said the Golden Crown app
I have the opposite problem to most people in this forum. I have money in my Russian bank account, which I am unable to transfer out of Russia because of the capital controls introduced in 2022. So if there is someone who would like to buy some roubles off me for use in Russia there is perhaps a discussion for us to have.
For example, I could transfer roubles from my Russian bank account to your Russian bank account, and in return you could pay an equivalent amount into my UK bank account (I am based in the UK) from another non-Russian bank. This kind of indirect trade would not involve any actual transfer of funds into or out of Russia, so no problems with either Russian or Western restrictions.
Thanks for the recommendation, did you look into other options in other countries?
@Jabod can we get in contact?