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1. Russia's crypto exchange register reaches 17 firms
The Bank of Russia has entered 17 companies on its register of crypto exchange providers since the list opened on October 6, with Prosto LLC added as the seventeenth on Thursday, October 22. Sberbank and VTB, the country's two largest state-controlled lenders, are among the approved names and plan to offer Bitcoin (BTC) and other coins to ordinary customers before the end of the year.
The central bank published the latest addition in a notice on its website. When the exchange register first went live on October 6 it held four members, so the list has more than quadrupled in a little over two weeks. A second register, covering digital depositories that record who owns which coins, now holds eight members.
Both registers exist because of the law "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights", which took effect on September 1. The statute pulls crypto trading into Russia's regulated financial system for the first time, replacing a patchwork of experimental regimes and grey-area practices with a licensing structure that resembles the one used for securities intermediaries.
2. What does it mean to be an exchange provider or a depository?
The two registers cover different functions. An exchange provider is a firm allowed to trade crypto for its own account outside organised venues, which in practice lets a bank sell and buy coins directly with its clients. A depository records and transfers digital assets and gives clients access to the addresses where their coins are held, according to the central bank.
Holding both licences is what allows a bank to run a complete retail offering. With the exchange licence it can trade in its own name, and with the depository licence it can keep the books on what each customer owns. A bank that has only one of the two would need a partner for the other half of the service, which is why the combination matters commercially.
The central bank has also made entry easier for institutions that are already supervised. Banks and other licensed financial institutions can join the registers through a simplified procedure that takes one working day, the regulator says. That helps explain the pace at which names have been added since the opening day.
Because the two licences are granted separately, the registers also give observers a way to track how the market is organised. The depository list shows who is positioned to hold client assets, while the exchange list shows who can deal in them, and the gap between the eight and the seventeen indicates that more firms are currently authorised to trade than to custody.
3. Sberbank and VTB hold both licences
Sberbank and VTB were among the first five depositories approved on October 6. VTB was listed as an exchange provider on the same day, while Sberbank joined the exchange register on October 12, based on reporting by the Interfax news agency. Both banks therefore now hold the two permissions that a full retail service requires.
VTB's brokerage arm has already put the licences to use. On October 6 it carried out its first stablecoin transactions for corporate clients, settling them through accounts at the bank's new depository. That makes the corporate segment the first part of the market to move onto the regulated rails.
For ordinary investors, the timetable is set out by VTB's management. Vitaly Sergeichuk, deputy president and chairman of the management board, said the bank expects to open crypto trading to a broad range of investors through its VTB My Investments platform in November and through its own exchange in December 2026. His stated aim is to "open access to digital currency trading" to a wide audience.
Sberbank is aiming for December 1. It plans to introduce its first crypto products through applications that customers already use, although the date depends on the final form of the supporting regulations. The bank is already testing trades in Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and the Tether stablecoin (USDT) inside its app.
The sequence illustrates how quickly the largest institutions moved once the rules were in place. Within the first week and a half of the registers being open, both banks had secured the permissions needed to serve clients, and at least one had already processed live transactions for corporate customers on the new infrastructure.
4. How much can retail investors buy?
Ordinary buyers face a firm annual ceiling. Investors who are not classed as qualified may purchase only the most liquid cryptocurrencies, up to 300,000 roubles a year through any single intermediary, which is roughly $3,800. They must also pass a knowledge test before they are allowed to trade. The central bank set out this limit in July.
Qualified investors, a category reserved for people and entities that meet professional-level criteria, are treated differently. They also have to pass the test, but they may trade any cryptocurrency and no annual cap applies to them.
The cap is applied per intermediary, so the practical ceiling for a determined retail investor depends on how many licensed firms they use. The design nonetheless signals that regulators want small investors to start with a limited, supervised exposure to the most liquid assets rather than the broad range of tokens available on offshore platforms.
In practical terms, 300,000 roubles is a modest sum when set against the price of a single Bitcoin, but it is large enough to allow regular small purchases over a year. Investors who want to go beyond it have two options: to spread purchases across several licensed intermediaries, or to qualify as professional investors, which removes the limit altogether.
5. Where can crypto be used in Russia?
Domestic payments remain off limits. Using crypto to pay for goods and services inside Russia is still banned, so the new framework creates a legal route to buy, hold and sell coins as an investment but not to spend them in shops.
Foreign trade is the exception. Exporters and importers may use crypto for cross-border settlements without restriction, either through intermediaries or directly from any wallet. The carve-out reflects the practical interest in alternative settlement channels for companies that trade with partners abroad.
Sberbank moved first in this segment. On September 1 it launched crypto payments for foreign-trade companies, with wallet-to-wallet transfers that take minutes, no minimum payment size and an average fee of 0.3%, according to first deputy chairman Alexander Vedyakhin. He said the service followed a central bank pilot that had run under an experimental legal regime since September 2024.
The distinction between investing and paying is central to how the framework works. Authorities have opened a controlled channel for holding crypto as an asset and for settling international contracts, while keeping the domestic payment system closed to it.
6. Why the licensing structure matters for customers
For a retail customer, the main change is legal certainty. Before a licensing regime exists, buying crypto usually means dealing with foreign platforms or private counterparties, with little recourse if something goes wrong. A register run by the central bank gives people a defined list of firms that answer to a supervisor, and it gives those firms clear obligations about how they handle client assets.
The split between exchange providers and depositories also mirrors a familiar principle from traditional finance: the party that trades and the party that safeguards ownership records are separate functions, even when one institution holds both licences. Keeping a record of client holdings in a regulated depository is intended to make it clear who owns what if a firm runs into difficulty.
The knowledge test and the annual cap add a second layer of protection. Digital assets can move sharply in price, and regulators in many countries have responded to retail demand by limiting exposure, requiring suitability checks, or both. Russia's approach combines the two, with the cap applying to ordinary buyers and the test applying to everyone who wants to trade.
7. Smaller players join the register
Beyond the two largest banks, other financial groups have registered. T-Technologies, the parent of T-Bank, entered Atomyze as a depository and T-Invest Lab as an exchange provider. Several newly formed companies have also joined the exchange register, according to the central bank's records.
MTS Bank plans to launch basic crypto services in the fourth quarter, based on Interfax reporting. If it does, three or more large retail brands will be offering regulated crypto access to Russian customers by the end of the year, which would give the market a competitive structure from the start.
Sberbank's December 1 target, VTB's staged rollout and MTS Bank's fourth-quarter plan all point to a busy period for the sector between now and the new year. Whether those timetables hold will depend on the supporting rules and on how quickly each bank can connect its trading and custody systems to the apps its customers already use.
8. What happens next for Russian crypto intermediaries?
Firms that are already on the registers have until September 1, 2027 to bring themselves fully into compliance with the law, the central bank says. That gives early entrants nearly a year to adjust their systems, reporting and client onboarding to the permanent rules.
A sharper deadline arrives earlier. From July 1, 2027, Russian residents will be allowed to trade crypto only through registered intermediaries, according to the regulator. That would effectively end peer-to-peer trading that is settled through Russian bank accounts, a route many individuals use today.
Authorities also plan penalties for unlicensed intermediaries from the same date, modelled on the sanctions that apply to illegal banking. For retail investors, the near-term milestones to watch are VTB's November launch, Sberbank's December 1 target and the finalisation of the regulations on which that launch depends.