Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, plans to build cryptocurrency trading infrastructure and launch a digital depository by December 1, as Russia moves to add cryptocurrency trading, custody and settlement to its regulated financial system.
The depository, according to Interfax, will record ownership of clients’ cryptocurrencies and process most transactions outside of the underlying blockchain. Sberbank will operate hot wallets for customer-initiated deposits, withdrawals and transfers.
The plan follows the approval by the Federation Council of a law regulating cryptocurrency trading through brokers, exchanges, asset managers and authorized depositories.
The framework will come into force on September 1, although rules requiring transactions to go through authorized intermediaries will apply from July 2027.
Public exchange trading will be limited to cryptocurrencies that meet the Bank of Russia’s liquidity thresholds, including an average market capitalization above 5 trillion rubles ($64 billion) and an average daily volume above 1 trillion rubles ($12.8 billion) over 2 years.
Qualified investors will be able to access a wider range of assets. Crypto payments for goods and services within Russia remain prohibited.
Sberbank began offering qualified investors structured bonds linked to bitcoin last year and completed a pilot program of bitcoin-backed loans with miner Intelion Data in December.
