Russia finalizes crypto trading rules for retail market rollout

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Russia crypto trading rules

Highlights

Bank of Russia finalized rules enabling exchanges to offer BTC, ETH, and USDT to retail investors starting Nov. 17, with annual purchase limits of 300,000 rubles per intermediary for non-qualified investors.
New law, effective Sept. 1, authorizes Sberbank to begin crypto exchange services in October and Moscow Exchange to pilot BTC, ETH, and USDT trading from Dec. 1.
Russia will prohibit peer-to-peer crypto trading from July 1, 2027, and already bans both transfers from regulated accounts to self-custody wallets and cryptocurrency as a payment method.

Retail trading framework and launch timeline

As reported by Cointelegraph, the Bank of Russia has finalized rules allowing exchanges to offer Bitcoin, Ether and Tether USDt to retail investors starting Nov. 17. Non-qualified investors can buy up to 300,000 rubles, about $3,700, in cryptocurrency each year through each intermediary, including brokers, asset managers and crypto exchange providers, while qualified investors face no purchase limits but still must pass a mandatory test before trading.

The directive builds on legislation signed by President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 4 that establishes a regulated cryptocurrency market under central bank oversight. A week later, the central bank published draft regulations naming BTC, ETH and USDT as eligible for public trading, based on market capitalization, average daily trading volume and at least five years of price history on foreign exchanges.

The law takes effect on Sept. 1, and the Bank of Russia subsequently authorizes Sberbank, the country’s largest bank, to offer crypto exchange services in October. Moscow Exchange, the country’s largest securities exchange and a listed company, is also preparing to launch cryptocurrency trading on Dec. 1 through pilot transactions involving the same three tokens.

Restrictions on off-platform transactions

Alongside broader access through regulated providers, Russia is tightening controls on crypto activity outside those channels. Direct peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading will be prohibited from July 1, 2027, according to the Bank of Russia.

Transfers from regulated digital accounts to self-custody wallets are already banned, and the country continues to prohibit the use of cryptocurrency for payments for goods and services. The combined approach points to a market structure in which trading is permitted within supervised financial infrastructure while independent transfers and payment use remain restricted.

In our previous coverage of rising sovereign borrowing risks amid geopolitical shocks, we noted that persistent conflicts and elevated fiscal spending are straining government finances in a higher-rate environment. The piece highlighted that emerging and frontier markets are especially exposed as energy and food price pressures feed inflation and reduce fiscal headroom, worsening credit outlooks.

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