Russia Opens Bitcoin Trading to Ordinary Investors on November 22

Moscow has stopped treating bitcoin as a gray zone. Central Bank of Russia Ordinance No. 7441-U, registered with the Ministry of Justice under No. 88991, takes effect on November 17, and the first legal trades for the general public are authorized from November 22, 2026. The measure targets resident individual investors, the non-qualified kind who until now had no clear legal path to buy crypto.

The rulebook is narrow on purpose. Russians can acquire bitcoin through brokers, national exchanges such as the Moscow Exchange, and banks registered with the central bank. Before any purchase, each investor must pass a mandatory risk assessment test covering their knowledge of the crypto market.

The ordinance, signed by Central Bank chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina, keeps the approved list tight: Bitcoin (BTC, XBT), Ether (ETH) and Tether's USD Tether (USDT). By pulling BTC and USDT into its legal financial arsenal, Moscow aims to channel popular demand while offering a regulated digital alternative to international banking sanctions.

Frankfurt moved in parallel. Deutsche Bank, a banking giant holding $2.2 trillion in assets, has officially launched its institutional Bitcoin custody service, BTC Custody, for institutional and corporate clients. The bank is no longer watching the network from the sidelines; it is holding the keys.

Michael Saylor, one of bitcoin's loudest long-term backers, recently reminded listeners that the asset has been building toward monetary dominance for centuries, according to Cointribune. With Russia legalizing retail trading on November 22 and Deutsche Bank opening its vaults, the two tracks — state regulation and bank adoption — are now running at the same time.