I read more articles about this topic, and it turns out that the main reason the central bank set a $250K minimum balance is to mitigate risk. The assumption is that if someone holds that kind of portfolio, they are already experts in their field and are expected to understand market volatility and know how to manage risks effectively.

That is the main thing I see here. They will probably open the possibility now for big capitals and in a while they will open it for everybody. In the end, this is unstoppable. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies have no way back and buying or trading them in this century will be as normal as buying or trading stocks and funds at the end of the 20th century.

Well, Russia has certainly begun to show signs of considering draft laws and proposals to partially or completely regulate the sector, influenced by what is happening globally, especially in the American sphere, where both the United States and Brazil have begun accumulating Bitcoin reserves. At the same time, we must understand that Russia cannot allow full recognition of everything that would enable financial freedom for citizens and companies. Russia knows that the number of crypto users in Russia is constantly growing, but it would prefer to exclude them from the economic cycle rather than recognize them and impose taxes. Well, let's see how many people in Russia own at least $250,000 worth of Bitcoin.

If they succeed with this, then that will probably be their next plan.

As for who controls the trading, it doesn’t really matter since it’s still regulated by the government. The fact that it’s trading in rubles as a crypto pair clearly shows that this is meant to ensure monitoring and control over the trade.

If this works out, they might finally move forward with launching their CBDC, which has been pending for a while now.

Big-money guys become even bigger, and the rest are still where they are.

So, yeah, adoption-wise and overall - good, I think, for all the usual enthusiasts like us - nothing would change.

There was a talk of banning USDT on some sanctioned RU exchange (27M of it), but that's as far as I saw the details about some bans and such.

2025 is the year for it to start happening, imo.

All the powers will start moving the cogs toward adoption  Some slower, some - faster.

I'd thought before now that the government doesn't have interest in dealing with anything related to crypto in Russia, instead believed in what their own native Russian Rubble, now they have realized that cryptocurrency is not for one, instead for all, that will even soon be more valuable and greater than the USD they have always been against.

As you ha e said it, they want to regulate the crypto sector and are starting by the giant holders first, try to confide them on a particular channel they can all be regulated, controlled and easily taxed without stress, my question is will all these investors on top tiers agree to all these, remember using a centralized system for your bitcoin is not safe at all, because you will be subjected to a central authority.

You might be right since this setup comes with protection + tax, meaning the government benefits. But if the trading platform they’re creating isn’t enticing enough for traders, then it’s unlikely to succeed.

For individuals or companies holding at least $250K, they’re already financially mature and will always look for ways to maximize income while minimizing or avoiding taxes. So if the platform is too controlled by bankers, chances are, they’ll simply choose other options that give them more flexibility.