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According to Decrypt, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated the Russian shadow banking network A7 Network as a significant transnational criminal organization, listing its relevant addresses in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has proposed a draft rule that aims to prohibit U.S. institutions from participating in any fund transfers involving the network's "sub-agent companies," covering convertible virtual currencies and not limited to fiat currencies, which is expected to affect approximately 348,000 institutions, including several cryptocurrency exchanges.The proposal is based on six special measures granted by Section 9714 of the Countering Russian Money Laundering Act, ultimately selecting the sixth measure, which is the fund transfer ban. The fifth measure, which restricts correspondent accounts, is considered to have loopholes: research by blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs shows that A7A5 transactions completely bypass the correspondent banking system, which the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network views as a core aspect of its business model. A7A5 is a ruble-backed token issued by Old Vector, registered in Kyrgyzstan, operating on Tron and Ethereum, with reserves held at the Russian state-owned defense bank Promsvyazbank.The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network stated that between February 2025 and June 2026, over 180 entities handled at least $17.91 billion in A7A5, which historically circulated almost entirely through the sanctioned exchanges Garantex and Grinex, often used as a non-frozen bridge to convert into USDT and then into fiat currency.

The Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia, Ivan Chebeskov, stated that at least 20 million Russians have invested in cryptocurrency products, holding a total of approximately 3.7 trillion rubles, equivalent to about 44 billion dollars. These assets are mainly used for foreign trade settlements, mining, and trading on overseas exchanges and savings.Russia is allowing qualified and non-qualified investors to hold and trade cryptocurrency assets on regulated domestic exchanges through a regulatory framework, while still prohibiting the use of cryptocurrency assets for everyday payments, and promoting the digital ruble as a payment tool directly regulated by the state.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that once the United States or other signatories of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty conduct nuclear tests, Russia will take appropriate response measures.

Russian Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov stated that Russia will promote the establishment of a transparent and legal cryptocurrency market. The country has about 20 million cryptocurrency users, with a total investment of approximately 3.7 trillion rubles, and a daily trading volume of about 50 billion rubles.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin stated that the circulation of cryptocurrency within Russia has been legalized since September 1, and the relevant laws have been signed into effect by the president.

The Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, Vladimir Chistyukhin, stated that the country's cryptocurrency industry may have the necessary conditions to operate legally by the end of the year, with relevant regulations progressing as planned. According to the International News Agency, Chistyukhin mentioned that significant and large-scale secondary regulatory rules are currently being formulated, and the "fine-tuning" of internal rules is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.This year, Russia has continued to advance cryptocurrency legislation. President Putin signed a law in August that establishes a regulatory framework for digital currencies and digital rights, but the use of Bitcoin for payments remains prohibited. The central bank has approved the public to trade Bitcoin on the country's cryptocurrency exchanges, and non-qualified investors can purchase Bitcoin and other assets worth 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,582) through a single intermediary, while qualified investors face no restrictions.Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, plans to launch Bitcoin and cryptocurrency wallets and digital asset custody services in December. The bank expects that the trading volume of its new cryptocurrency business could reach 40 trillion rubles (approximately $4.7 billion) in its first year. Since 2022, Russia has prohibited the use of digital assets as a means of payment or legal tender, but lawmakers have made exceptions for international payments, likely aimed at circumventing Western sanctions. After the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the U.S. and Europe excluded Russia from the SWIFT system, and the Russian Finance Minister stated that the country's enterprises have been using Bitcoin to bypass related restrictions.

Indian refiners are seeking crude oil purchases for delivery in November. Due to the sanctions bill signed by the United States last week, India may reduce its crude oil purchases from Russia.As the world's third-largest crude oil buyer, India has imported more than half of its total imports from Russia.

Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal stated that India is studying the specific details of the tariffs imposed by the United States on Russian oil buyers. Previously, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing the president to impose punitive tariffs of up to 100% on India and other countries.

According to Catcher Predict monitoring, the event "Political Party with the Most Seats in the Russian Parliamentary Election" is currently the most actively traded on the prediction market Polymarket, with a cumulative fund pool size reaching 367 million dollars. The option with the highest market consensus is "United Russia (ER)", corresponding to a winning probability of approximately 75.5%.

According to Catcher Predict monitoring on-chain data, it predicts significant capital movements in the Polymarket market. A large whale invested $71,255.42 in the event "Russian Parliamentary Election Seat Contest" targeting the "United Russia Party (ER)". Based on the current transaction price, the latest corresponding winning probability for this target is 81.99%.

The U.S. Congress passed a bill authorizing President Trump to impose tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil products. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated that China conducts economic and trade cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, opposing extraterritorial jurisdiction not authorized by the United Nations Security Council.

India warns that the U.S. sanctions bill against buyers of Russian oil could harm U.S.-India relations and disrupt the global energy market. The bill has passed in the U.S. Congress, granting Trump new powers to impose tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil products. India is the largest buyer of Russian seaborne crude oil and is seeking to diversify its supply.

According to Bits.media, Russia's three major telecom operators MTS, Rostelecom, and Megafon announced that they will start accepting digital ruble payments from September 1. MTS will support the use of digital rubles for all services within its payment module MTS Pay, with no category restrictions. Rostelecom will initially only support one-time payments on its official website, and will later expand to personal accounts; regular payments and automatic top-ups will depend on the readiness of the central bank's platform. Megafon will also offer it as an additional payment method.The two major e-commerce platforms, Wildberries and Ozon, also announced the activation of digital rubles on the same day. According to the law, starting from September 1, all large enterprises in Russia must be able to process digital ruble transactions, and the apps of 12 systemically important banks must have an entry point for digital ruble wallets. The central bank plans to impose limits on the recharge of digital wallets, with a maximum of 300,000 rubles per month through a single bank.

Sources from the Pakistani military and Iranian security agencies reveal that the United States and Iran have reached a consensus on the terms of a ceasefire agreement, which includes the freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Both parties are expected to announce relevant news in the coming days and initiate negotiations and technical meetings based on the Islamabad memorandum.

Ukraine is seeking to use drones equipped with the Starlink system to strike missile launch silos within 200 kilometers inside Russia due to a shortage of air defense interceptors. This move requires approval from Elon Musk, whose position is uncertain.Communication has faced challenges since the dismissal of former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Military experts say Ukraine is struggling to obtain enough interceptors to maintain its air defense strategy.

On July 23, the European Union passed the 21st round of sanctions against Russia, expanding the trading ban to 14 cryptocurrency service platforms located in Georgia, Panama, the UAE, the Marshall Islands, Kyrgyzstan, and Belarus, and adding 4 new sanctions measures targeting the A7 Russian ruble network. The new regulations will take effect on August 25, prohibiting Russian and Belarusian citizens from holding, controlling, or serving in positions within MiCA cryptocurrency asset service providers in the EU, with the scope extending to services such as consulting, portfolio management, and transferring cryptocurrency assets on behalf of clients.The new regulations also allow the EU to impose a comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency transactions against third countries that have not prevented relevant sanction evasion activities. The list of relevant countries is currently empty and only includes third countries identified by the EU Council as having continuously and systematically failed to prevent the provision of cryptocurrency asset services or the operation of related platforms.

According to Cointelegraph, the cryptocurrency exchange Binance provided customer trading records and identity information to Russian authorities, which were subsequently used in a terrorism financing case against IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy.Yuri Belenkiy was detained in September 2025 and is currently awaiting trial in Russia. The Russian Investigative Committee accuses Yuri Belenkiy of donating over $700 in cryptocurrency to the Ukrainian military and banned organizations between January 2023 and March 2024.The information obtained by Russian authorities includes his transaction history, date of birth, address, phone number, Russian passport, and Bulgarian residence permit. Binance announced its complete withdrawal from Russia in September 2023 and sold its local business to CommEX.Binance stated that the company is not responsible for making or enforcing the laws of any jurisdiction, nor does it determine the content of charges or how governments use information in legal proceedings; the company will cooperate with legitimate information requests from global law enforcement agencies in accordance with applicable laws, privacy, and regulatory requirements.

According to bits.media citing RBC, several Russian banks focused on providing services to import and export businesses have begun to request cryptocurrency transaction explanations from their clients, requiring corporate clients to disclose the economic purpose of purchasing USDT and confirm that the counterparties providing the crypto assets are listed in the central bank's digital asset exchange operator registry.However, this registry has not yet been established, and the relevant regulatory laws only took effect on September 1. The central bank is still formulating the details, making the banks' requests practically impossible to fulfill. Experts believe such requests do not comply with current laws, and lawyer Elizaveta Lobuteva stated that they should be regarded as routine compliance checks and preparations for future regulatory changes, rather than new mandatory obligations.

Russia's oil production in July was nearly 1 million barrels per day below its OPEC+ quota, with an average daily output of 8.887 million barrels, significantly lower than the monthly target of 9.824 million barrels.Ukraine has been attacking Russian oil infrastructure almost daily, threatening crude oil processing and export volumes, while the global energy market is also under pressure due to the conflict in the Middle East.