Finance Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, is set to establish a cryptocurrency trading infrastructure and a digital depository by December 1, aiming to integrate crypto trading, custody, and settlement into a regulated financial framework.
New regulations governing crypto trading, custody, and settlement in Russia will take effect on September 1, with licensed intermediary requirements starting in July 2027.
As reported by Interfax, the depository will manage clients’ cryptocurrency ownership records and will facilitate most transactions off the blockchain. Sberbank will offer active wallets for clients to initiate deposits, withdrawals, and transfers.
This initiative follows the Federation Council’s endorsement of legislation that regulates cryptocurrency trading via licensed brokers, exchanges, asset managers, and depositories.
The new regulatory framework is slated to come into force on September 1, although stipulations requiring transactions to go through licensed intermediaries will not be implemented until July 2027.
Trading on public exchanges will be restricted to cryptocurrencies that meet specific liquidity criteria set by the Bank of Russia, which includes a minimum average market capitalization of 5 trillion rubles (approximately $64 billion) and an average daily trading volume exceeding 1 trillion rubles (around $12.8 billion) over a two-year period.
Qualified investors will have the option to engage with a wider variety of assets, while crypto payments for goods and services within Russia will continue to be banned.
Last year, Sberbank began offering structured bonds linked to bitcoin to qualified investors and successfully conducted a bitcoin-backed lending pilot in December with Intelion Data, a mining firm.
Russia has been progressively incorporating cryptocurrencies into its regulated financial system. A 2024 law legalized cryptocurrency mining and introduced an experimental framework for cross-border crypto transactions.
In 2025, the Bank of Russia expanded access for qualified investors to crypto-linked financial products and proposed limited direct purchases for retail investors, subject to testing and an annual limit of 300,000 rubles per intermediary.