Digital Asset Accounting in Russia: Purchased Cryptocurrency on the Balance Sheet

How should a Russian subsidiary of a foreign company account for purchased cryptocurrency?

A Russian subsidiary should recognise purchased cryptocurrency under a documented accounting policy defining the asset, recognition date, valuation source and subsequent measurement. Because no dedicated federal accounting standard governs digital currency, the company must support its method and reconcile Russian figures with the parent company’s reporting rules.

Cryptocurrency and digital financial assets

The company should first confirm what it is buying. Russian regulation distinguishes digital currency from digital financial assets and foreign digital instruments. The labels used by an exchange or the parent company do not determine the Russian classification. This matters because the legal nature of the instrument affects the accounting analysis and whether the planned transaction is permitted.

Management should also document the purpose before the purchase:

Investment: the company intends to hold the asset and benefit from changes in its value;
Resale: the asset will be sold in the ordinary course of business;
Permitted settlement: the asset is reserved for a transaction allowed under Russian law.

The purpose determines the expected holding period, approval route and reporting line. An asset intended for disposal or settlement within the operating cycle will normally be presented as current; a documented long-term holding may be presented as non-current.

Russian accounting policy for purchased cryptocurrency

For ordinary non-financial companies, Russian standards do not prescribe a dedicated model for accounting for cryptocurrency. Recommendation R-177/2025-KpR issued by the Accounting Methodological Centre provides a practical methodology. It proposes recognition when the asset can be sold or exchanged and its fair value can be measured from Level 1 market inputs.

If the subsidiary follows this approach, its accounting policy should specify four decisions:

Recognition point

The entry is made when the company obtains control, supported by a credit to its wallet or a custodian record—not automatically when an order is placed or fiat is transferred.

Initial measurement

The asset is recorded at fair value on the recognition date. Any difference between that amount and acquisition costs is recorded in the financial result under the adopted policy.

Subsequent measurement

Fair value is recalculated at each reporting date using the approved market, quotation and cut-off time. The change is recognised as income or expense.

Balance-sheet presentation

A material holding is shown separately. The recommendation uses code 1260 for current assets and 1190 for non-current assets.

The recommendation is not a federal accounting standard and does not prescribe a universal ledger account. The working account and analytics must therefore be fixed in the chart of accounts and applied consistently. Crypto asset accounting should not default to account 41, 58 or 04 solely because one of those accounts appears technically convenient.

Transaction records and valuation evidence

Reliable digital-asset records need more than a blockchain screenshot. The close file should connect the corporate approval, fiat payment, acquisition and wallet movement.

The asset register should show opening units, purchases, disposals, transfers between company wallets and closing units for each currency. These quantities are reconciled with the ledger before valuation. A unit difference cannot be cleared through revaluation because quantity and price differences have different causes.

Tax treatment and differences from book valuation

Profit-tax calculation

For profit-tax purposes, digital currency is treated as property. When purchased cryptocurrency is sold, the tax result is based on proceeds less its acquisition value and eligible disposal costs. Revenue is generally measured at the actual sale price but not below the applicable market quotation reduced by 20%.
Separate tax register

The register should retain the acquisition date, quantity, purchase cost and expenses for each batch until disposal. It should then link the units sold with proceeds and disposal costs. Fair-value movements recognised in the statutory accounts are not copied automatically into this calculation.
VAT and mining notifications

The sale of digital currency is not subject to VAT. A VAT payer nevertheless reports the operation in Section 7 of the return using the applicable transaction code. Buying and holding an asset does not by itself trigger the monthly information duty for cryptocurrency received through mining.

Russian statutory accounts and group reporting

The subsidiary should retain its Russian statutory figures and send headquarters a reconciliation bridge rather than overwrite the local ledger with the group policy.

Bridge structure: opening units and carrying value → purchases and disposals → Russian fair-value change → group-policy adjustments → currency translation → closing group amount.

If the parent applies another method of accounting for crypto assets, each adjustment should identify the Russian amount, group amount and reason for the difference. The bridge should also separate the change in the cryptocurrency price from the rouble translation effect. This allows the group’s accounting for digital assets to use another recognition date, quotation source or presentation category without obscuring the Russian records.

How we support digital asset accounting

We help foreign-owned companies classify the transaction, document the Russian accounting policy and create acquisition, wallet and valuation registers.

We reconcile holdings with statutory records, calculate accounting and tax differences and prepare a bridge for foreign headquarters. Involving us before the first purchase allows the recognition point, evidence and reporting format to be agreed before cryptocurrency appears on the balance sheet.

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