Russia's Central Bank Hands NAUFOR Oversight of Crypto Exchanges

The Central Bank of Russia approved NAUFOR as a self-regulatory organization for crypto exchanges and digital depositories on October 29, according to Interfax. The National Association of Securities Market Participants now sits at the top of Russia's newly licensed digital asset industry.

It's a familiar hand on the wheel. NAUFOR has operated since 1996 and counts 725 members, mostly brokers, dealers and fund managers from traditional markets. Earlier in October, the same body received SRO status for information system operators. Now it adds crypto exchanges and custody to its remit.

The association says it will help shape standards for digital asset markets and push the central bank on rule changes. That is the core job of any SRO: write industry standards, monitor members and represent the industry to regulators.

What does the law actually require?

The decision turns a law into a working system. Russia's framework, "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights," passed the State Duma in July, with the new regulations taking effect in September. It requires exchange operators and depositories to sit in central bank registries. And it requires them to join an SRO.

The registries already have names attached. Interfax reports the list includes 23 crypto exchanges and eight digital depositories, among them VTB, Sberbank and units of T-Technologies, the holding company behind T-Bank. Firms on those registries have 90 days to join an SRO.

How restrictive is the regime?

The law draws hard lines. Bitcoin cannot become money for everyday purchases in Russia — domestic crypto payments stay banned. What the framework does instead is license exchanges and depositories, cap retail purchases and open a state-supervised channel for cross-border trade, a route that helps Russia move around Western sanctions.

The retail cap is tight. Non-qualified buyers can purchase up to 300,000 rubles a year — roughly $3,800 — through a single intermediary. Qualified investors face higher ceilings, though the source does not specify the amounts.

Custody works through the depository layer. A depository records holdings, and one reading of the framework lets it restrict transfers to personal wallets. That detail alone shapes who can use these platforms and how.

President Vladimir Putin has previously acknowledged Bitcoin's resistance to being banned. That admission sits awkwardly beside a regime built on registry walls and transfer restrictions. Still, the direction is clear: licensed, supervised, capped.

Who is moving first?

The incumbents are already lining up. The Moscow Exchange reportedly began testing cryptocurrency trading with professional market participants this fall and planned to launch trading in December. The exchange intends to use existing infrastructure and a partner digital depository.

Sberbank, one of the eight registered depositories, has also received approval to custody bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. VTB and T-Technologies units hold depository slots of their own.

For foreign observers, the pattern is recognizable. Traditional finance built NAUFOR's model for stocks and bonds, and placing that same body over bitcoin exchanges gives the state a supervision structure it already trusts.

What does this change for the market?

It changes the clock. Registered exchanges and depositories now face a 90-day window to join NAUFOR or risk falling out of compliance with the central bank's registries. Standards written in that period will determine transfer rules, wallet access and retail onboarding across the sector.

And the December launch of Moscow Exchange trading gives the regime its first live test — a state-supervised market, capped at the retail edge, running through banks the central bank already regulates.