Moscow Exchange, Russia's largest bourse, plans to open cryptocurrency trading to clients in December and began testing operations with professional market participants roughly a week ago, according to a senior executive.

"We are actively testing. We started a week ago," Boris Blokhin, the exchange's senior managing director for sales and business development, told journalists on the sidelines of the Sber Investments forum, in an Interfax report published Thursday.

The launch is the most concrete market-structure change to emerge from Russia's law on digital currencies and digital rights, which took effect in September and established the first comprehensive national rulebook for crypto assets. President Vladimir Putin signed the law in October.

How the trading model works

Moscow Exchange will not custody the assets itself. Market participants will open accounts at a partner settlement digital depository, an entity that records ownership of digital assets. Blokhin said the exchange needs no additional permits or licenses to begin trading.

The September framework allows trades to run through existing infrastructure — exchanges, brokers and trust managers — alongside new entrants. Two categories will join the market for the first time:

• Crypto exchangers, venues where digital assets are bought and sold.
• Digital depositories, institutions that record ownership of crypto holdings.

What does this change for investors?

Access, and the limits attached to it, remain split by investor class. Unqualified retail investors can buy bitcoin and stablecoins only up to 300,000 rubles — roughly $3,556 — per year, through a single intermediary. For context, that figure is less than a tenth of an average annual Moscow salary.

Qualified investors face no cap and can buy any cryptocurrency traded on exchange and over-the-counter markets. For professional desks, an exchange-grade venue with a regulated depository replaces fragmented OTC channels and reduces counterparty exposure. For retail participants, the practical change is narrower: a licensed on-ramp within strict annual limits.

The payment ban stays in place. Using crypto as a means of payment has been illegal in Russia since 2022, and the October law did not alter that restriction.

Sberbank's custody approval widens the institutional path

Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, said last month it became the first institution in the country approved to custody bitcoin. The Bank of Russia cleared the bank for "digital currency record-keeping" and for facilitating transfers of such assets, with the approval covering bitcoin and other, smaller cryptocurrencies.

The combination is significant for practitioners: a state-cleared custodian, a regulated depository layer and an exchange venue now form a complete institutional chain from settlement to execution.

The political backdrop

Russia's posture toward bitcoin remains ambivalent. Putin appeared to praise the asset in 2024, saying at a forum: "For example, Bitcoin, who can ban it? Nobody." Yet the Kremlin maintains tight control over what citizens can do with crypto, prohibiting its use in payments and capping retail exposure.

What comes next

The December launch date is the near-term deadline to watch. If testing with professional participants completes on schedule, Russia will enter 2027 with a fully licensed exchange-based crypto market operating under the digital rights law — the first full cycle from custody to trading under the new framework.