Russia's sanctioned giants flip on regulated crypto trading December 1

Trading starts December 1. The Moscow Exchange confirmed at the end of October that coins will go live the moment its morning session opens, with investors able to buy and sell Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether. Those three are the only assets cleared so far, even for non-qualified retail investors, though the approved list could grow later.

MOEX's Boris Blokhin, senior managing director for sales and business development, told a conference in Moscow that the exchange is starting with three key coins and plans order-book trading plus swap transactions by year's end, according to RBC. The December 1 date was first floated in mid-September by MOEX supervisory board chairman Sergey Shvetsov and locked in by Blokhin in early October, when trials were already running.

Sberbank isn't waiting around either. The state-controlled lender's press service said it will launch a dedicated crypto service the same day, letting clients buy, sell, deposit and withdraw coins, Kommersant reported on October 8. Sberbank has been testing transactions with several popular coins. St. Petersburg's SPB, Russia's second-largest securities exchange, is aiming further out, targeting crypto trading by the end of 2026. Both venues have hosted crypto derivatives since the Central Bank of Russia gave the nod in May 2025 through indices and futures.

The legal groundwork landed on September 1, when the law on digital currencies and digital rights took effect after passing parliament and getting President Putin's signature. More than 20 organizations have since registered with the Bank of Russia as exchanges or custodians, including VTB, the country's second-largest credit institution. The Finance Ministry reckons about 20 million Russians already hold over $44 billion in crypto, trading roughly 50 billion rubles a day, close to $600 million, according to Cryptopolitan.

Not everyone gets a smooth ride. Regulators have moved against small crypto exchange offices accused of illegal activity, and experts warn that even legitimate market participants may struggle to clear the new requirements. Kirill Pistsov, who heads product development at veteran broker Finam, has argued that banks are better placed to absorb crypto downturns than specialized platforms because they earn from a wider spread of products.

Many of the newly licensed players carry sanctions restrictions tied to Moscow's efforts to dodge penalties over the Ukraine invasion, and several foreign crypto exchanges have already walked away from the market. Industry watchers fear Russia is assembling what some call a sovereign, closed crypto circuit run by sanctioned entities, one that could end up a speculative playground for tainted coins while ordinary Russians get limited access. The stated ambition: 50 billion rubles in daily turnover.