Bank of Russia approves regulated crypto venues

TLDR

The Bank of Russia has officially registered the countrys first regulated crypto exchanges and custodians, creating a supervised framework for digital asset services in Russia.

1. The central bank approved four exchange operators and five custodians, including Sberbank and VTB, under a new crypto law that took effect on 1 Sep.
2. These venues will initially offer Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) products, but crypto still cannot be used for everyday domestic payments and retail access is tightly limited.
3. The rollout is phased through late 2026 and into 2027, so the real impact will depend on how fast banks launch services and how prudential caps on crypto exposure are enforced.

Deep Dive

1. What Was Approved

On 6 Oct, the Bank of Russia admitted nine firms to its first official registers for digital asset market infrastructure, covering both exchanges and custodians under its oversight. Reports list Sberbank, VTB Bank, Atomyze, Voltari and Cloud Infrastructure as digital custodians, and T Invest Lab, Zefir, Sistema Crypto and VTB Bank as exchange operators, placing Russias largest banks inside the new system. The registrations implement the law On Digital Currency and Digital Rights, signed in August and effective from 1 Sep, which creates a regulated market framework for exchanges, custodians, brokers and investors under the central banks supervision while keeping prior limits on crypto use in place.

2. How Access And Limits Work

Sberbank has been approved as a digital depository, allowing it to provide regulated custody and related services for digital currencies such as BTC, ETH and USDT through existing platforms like SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness, with an initial launch targeted for 1 Dec, subject to final rules. VTB has similar plans, including trading via its investment app and a dedicated exchange later in 2026. For nonqualified retail investors, reports indicate annual purchase limits of around 300,000 rubles per intermediary plus suitability testing, while qualified investors have fewer caps but remain under screening. The framework maintains Russias ban on using crypto to pay for goods and services domestically, while allowing regulated cross border settlements and tightly monitored custody.

3. Timelines, Risk Caps And What To Watch

The registrations rely on transitional provisions that require firms to follow transaction rules immediately and fully align operations by 1 Sep 2027. Custodians face minimum equity requirements scaled by service scope, and the central bank has proposed capping banks combined risk from crypto and foreign digital instruments at 1 percent of capital, with very high risk weights. That combination signals cautious, balance sheet safe experimentation rather than aggressive crypto banking. Key milestones to watch are the actual launch dates for Sberbank and VTB products, any expansion beyond BTC, ETH and USDT, and whether more institutions join the registers or prudential rules tighten further as volumes grow.

Conclusion

Russias central bank has moved from debate to implementation by approving specific regulated crypto exchanges and custodians, anchored in major domestic banks. For crypto users, this opens a controlled investment and custody channel rather than full transactional freedom, with strict limits and long phase in timelines. The strategic angle is that Russia is building state aligned digital asset infrastructure that could eventually matter more for cross border payments and institutional collateral than for retail trading.