Bank of Russia registers 17 crypto exchangers as Sberbank and VTB prepare retail trading

The Bank of Russia has added a 17th company, Prosto LLC, to its register of crypto exchange providers, according to a notice on the regulator's website, widening the list of firms permitted to trade digital currencies under the law "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights" that took effect on 1 September. The register had four members when it opened on 6 October, while the separate register of digital depositories, which record who owns which coins, now has eight, the central bank said.

Sberbank and VTB, Russia's largest state-controlled lenders, were among the first five digital depositories approved on 6 October, the central bank said. VTB was also listed as a crypto exchange provider that day, while Sberbank joined the exchange register on 12 October, Interfax reported. Holding both statuses lets a bank buy and sell crypto in its own name and keep the record of clients' holdings; exchange providers can trade digital currencies for their own account outside organised venues, while depositories record and transfer the assets and give clients access to the addresses where they are held.

VTB's broker carried out its first stablecoin deals for corporate clients on 6 October, settling them through accounts at its new digital depository, the bank said. Vitaly Sergeichuk, VTB's deputy president and chairman of the management board, said the bank expects to open access to digital currency trading for a broad range of investors through VTB My Investments in November and directly through the bank's exchange in December 2026, according to Interfax. Sberbank plans to launch its first crypto products on 1 December through apps its customers already use, though the timing depends on the regulations being ready, Interfax reported; the bank is already testing Bitcoin, Ether and USDT trades in its app, according to CoinDesk.

The central bank said in July that non-qualified investors will be able to buy only the most liquid cryptocurrencies, up to 300,000 roubles, or about $3,800, a year through any one intermediary, and only after passing a test. Qualified investors must also pass the test but can buy and sell any cryptocurrency without a limit. Using crypto to pay for goods and services inside Russia remains banned, though exporters and importers can use crypto for cross-border settlements without restrictions, either through intermediaries or directly from any type of wallet.

Sberbank moved first on cross-border payments, launching crypto payments for companies engaged in foreign trade on 1 September, with wallet-to-wallet transfers taking a couple of minutes, no minimum payment and an average cost of 0.3%, first deputy chairman Alexander Vedyakhin said, according to Interfax. The service followed a central bank pilot that had run under an experimental legal regime since September 2024, he said. T-Technologies, the parent of T-Bank, has registered its units Atomyze as a depository and T-Invest Lab as an exchange provider, and MTS Bank has said it plans to launch basic crypto services in the fourth quarter, Interfax reported. Firms already on the registers have until 1 September 2027 to bring their operations fully in line with the law, and from 1 July 2027 Russian residents will be allowed to trade crypto only through registered intermediaries, the regulator said, with penalties planned for unlicensed intermediaries from the same date.