Russia has passed a sweeping crypto law, but it's less about embracing Bitcoin and more about defending itself from a coming wave of digital dollars — a mixed signal for crypto fans.

• Putin signed a 287-page law letting Russian companies settle foreign trade in crypto, a way to get paid despite sanctions cutting Russia out of the dollar system.
• Regular Russians get almost nothing: they're capped at about $3,700 of crypto a year, must pass a test, and still can't spend it on anything at home.
• On September 1st Russia also launches its own digital ruble, a central-bank currency where every transaction is tracked, and it will pay banks to push it onto people's paychecks because demand is weak.
• The real fear is US "stablecoins" — dollars that live on a phone with no bank needed — which could tempt millions of Russians to quietly move savings out of the ruble.
• Don't expect a Bitcoin price pop: Russia isn't buying or holding Bitcoin, just using it as a way to move money across borders like gold.

Outlook: The world is splitting into competing money systems — US stablecoins, China's and Russia's digital currencies — and Russia is racing to wall off its own before the dollar version arrives.