Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, has been added to the Bank of Russia’s register of crypto exchange operators, clearing it to buy and sell digital currencies in its own name and to quote prices directly to its own customers. The entry, dated October 12 in the central bank’s register, gives Sberbank both of the licences created under Russia’s new digital-currency framework, after it joined the digital depository register earlier in the month.
The state-controlled bank now plans to launch its first retail crypto products on December 1 through SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness, with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether’s USDT expected to be the first supported assets. It builds on Sberbank’s earlier plan to run an off-chain crypto trading system in December, now backed by a formal exchange-operator licence rather than a roadmap announcement.
What the Approval Actually Changes
Russia’s digital-currency law, in force since September 1, created two new licensed roles alongside the exchanges, brokers and trustees that already handled digital assets. An exchange operator may buy and sell digital currencies on its own behalf and at its own expense outside organised trading, while a digital depository records who owns what and grants clients access to the address identifiers where their assets are held.
Sberbank was among the first five digital depositories admitted on October 6. Its addition to the exchange register a week later lets it trade as well as hold, a combined position that only VTB previously held among current market participants. The bank said the status lets it organise the circulation of digital currency on interfaces clients already use, rather than steering customers to a separate service. Holding both roles also lets Sberbank bundle trading and custody for clients in one place, removing a step customers would otherwise face at separate venues.
Which Coins, What Limits and When
Sberbank has said its first products will support Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT, though the Bank of Russia will set the final list of permitted coins. Non-qualified retail investors may buy up to 300,000 rubles — roughly $3,500 — of eligible cryptocurrencies a year through each intermediary after passing a mandatory test, while qualified investors face no annual purchase cap.
Cryptocurrency still cannot be used to pay for goods and services inside Russia, though the framework does permit its use for cross-border settlements without an amount limit, a carve-out aimed at trade payments. Sberbank has cautioned that the December 1 timing depends on further central-bank regulations, leaving room for the schedule to slip as the Bank of Russia finalises its operating rules.
Russia’s Ten Registered Crypto Exchangers
The exchange-operator register has grown from four names to ten in a single week. As of October 13 it lists VTB and T-Invest Lab — part of the T-Technologies group behind T-Bank — along with Zefir and Sistema-Crypto from the first batch admitted October 6; RNKO Finpilot and Professional Bank, added October 8; Moy Bitkoin and Khlynov Bank, added October 9; and Sberbank and Paradise Technology, both entered October 12.
That pace reflects a simplified, notification-based route that lets established financial institutions be admitted within a single day. What regulators called a first step on October 6 has quickly become a crowded list of licensed venues, with Sberbank by far the largest name on it.
What Happens Before December 1
Institutions already on the registers must comply with transaction and recordkeeping rules from the date of inclusion and have until September 1, 2027 to bring the rest of their operations into full compliance. Moscow Exchange has separately said it plans to enable crypto trading from December 1 and is testing operations with professional participants, pointing to a December window in which several venues go live at once.
Sberbank executives have projected that Russia’s regulated crypto trading could reach about $46 billion in its first year, a figure that explains why the country’s largest bank is moving first. For now, the next concrete signals are the Bank of Russia’s final list of permitted coins and any further product guidance before the stated December 1 target.
