The Bank of Russia published a proposal that would permit public trading of bitcoin, ether and Tether's USDT on official Russian exchanges, marking a significant shift for a country that has kept retail crypto trading largely outside regulated markets. Under the plan, the three assets would become available through licensed brokers, crypto exchanges and asset managers.
The central bank's own published proposal splits access by investor category. Unqualified investors would be limited to the three named assets, with purchases capped at 300,000 rubles per year through any single intermediary — a restriction on order of a few thousand dollars annually. Qualified investors, by contrast, would face no such cap and could trade any cryptocurrency available on regulated markets.
Strict Criteria for Which Tokens Qualify
The central bank laid out specific screening criteria for which cryptocurrencies could be approved for the regulated market: minimum market capitalization, minimum average daily trading volume, and at least five years of pricing history on foreign trading platforms. Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT clear that bar comfortably, but the threshold would likely exclude most newer or smaller tokens from ever reaching Russia's regulated retail market, regardless of demand.
Testing and Disclosure Required for Everyone
Even qualified investors with unrestricted access would still need to complete a testing requirement and review formal risk disclosures before trading, according to the proposal. That universal testing mandate signals the central bank intends to treat crypto trading as inherently high-risk even as it opens a regulated channel for it, rather than normalizing it as a conventional asset class.
Related: SEC Sets August 14 Vote to Propose Its Own Crypto Rules
What Happens Next
The proposal is open for public comment through August 24, 2026, after which the Bank of Russia could revise or finalize the framework. If adopted, it would give Russian investors their first clearly regulated path to crypto exposure through domestic institutions, a notable move for a major economy that has spent years oscillating between restrictive rhetoric on crypto and quiet acknowledgment of its use, including in the context of sanctions-driven cross-border payments.
