Sberbank secures crypto trading approval as Russia expands regulated market

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Sberbank crypto trading approval

Highlights

Sberbank has been added to the Bank of Russia's cryptocurrency exchange provider register, enabling it to offer both crypto trading and custody services.
Effective Sept. 1, a new law creates a regulated digital asset market in Russia, requiring crypto trades to pass through registered intermediaries and banning domestic crypto payments.
Sberbank will launch digital asset products on Dec. 1, testing BTC, ETH, USDT, and other major tokens, pending final approval from the central bank.

Sberbank adds trading role to custody plans

As reported by CoinDesk, citing Interfax, the Bank of Russia has added Sberbank to its register of cryptocurrency exchange providers, giving the lender a formal role in Moscow’s expanding regulated digital-asset market. Earlier this month, Sberbank also joined the digital depository register, allowing it to record clients’ crypto holdings.

The two registrations cover different parts of the market. The central bank says registered crypto dealers can buy and sell cryptocurrencies using their own funds outside organized exchanges, while depositories record ownership and transfers.

That combination creates a path for Sberbank to offer both trading and custody-related services. The bank is also working on a crypto wallet, extending its infrastructure for digital-asset services.

Launch timeline and market implications

There are now nine organizations on the exchange register, including VTB and T-Invest Lab. The move marks another step away from the Bank of Russia’s 2022 proposal to ban domestic crypto exchanges and prevent Russian financial intermediaries from handling cryptocurrencies.

Instead, a law that takes effect on Sept. 1 establishes a regulated market involving banks, brokers, exchanges and digital depositories. At the same time, domestic crypto payments remain banned, and the central bank says that from July next year, crypto transactions will have to pass through registered intermediaries, a shift that would effectively exclude peer-to-peer transactions settled through Russian bank accounts.

Sberbank plans to launch its first products on Dec. 1 through interfaces already used by its customers. The bank is already testing trades in BTC, ETH, USDT and other major tokens in its app, although Sberbank told Vedomosti that the central bank will determine the final list of permitted coins.

In our earlier article, we examined how a potential shift in control of the U.S. Congress could expand Democratic oversight of banks, crypto businesses and the regulators supervising them. We noted that stronger subpoena powers and more aggressive investigations could increase scrutiny of policy rollbacks and intensify pressure on executives and agencies involved in crypto-related decisions.

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