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Sanctioned Moscow Exchange sets Dec. 1 start for Russia's first organized crypto market, with bitcoin, ether and USDT
Summary
Moscow Exchange plans to start trading bitcoin, ether and Tether's USDT on Dec. 1, in what it describes as Russia's first organized digital currency market, Cointelegraph and Bitcoin.com News reported, citing a Nov. 2 announcement.
Trading will begin with pilot transactions as participants come on board, run on the exchange's existing stock-market infrastructure with clearing through the National Clearing Center, and be open from 6:50 a.m. to 11:50 p.m. Moscow time, according to both outlets.
Non-qualified investors must pass a knowledge test and will be limited to buying 300,000 rubles (about $3,700) a year per broker, both outlets reported.
The launch rests on Russia's crypto law whose main provisions took effect Sept. 1; Cointelegraph noted the law still bans crypto payments for goods and services and that the exchange and its clearing house are under U.S., U.K. and EU sanctions.
Updates
- Update, : Update (Nov. 5): Bitcoin Magazine also reported that the U.S.-sanctioned Moscow Exchange will open bitcoin trading on Dec. 1 under Russia's new crypto law, with retail buyers required to pass a test and capped at 300,000 rubles a year.
- Update, : Update (Nov. 6, 3pm): Cointelegraph said Russia's central bank has finalized rules letting regulated intermediaries offer BTC, ETH and USDT to retail investors starting Nov. 17, with a 300,000-ruble (~$3,700) annual purchase cap per intermediary for non-qualified investors, a mandatory test for all traders, and no purchase cap for qualified investors; it also said direct peer-to-peer crypto trading will be prohibited from July 1, 2027, while transfers from regulated digital accounts to self-custody wallets are already banned and crypto cannot be used to pay for goods or services. Moscow Exchange's Dec. 1 pilot of the same three assets remains on track in that coverage.
Key facts
- Customers will have same-day (TOD) and next-day (TOM) settlement plus swap transactions for liquidity, and trading will run in both address-based and addressless modes.
- The exchange plans to add more international cryptocurrencies and Russian digital assets over time.
- Moscow Exchange executive Boris Blokhin said on Oct. 8 that testing with professional participants had begun about a week earlier and that no extra licenses were needed.
- Moscow Exchange and the NCC have been under U.S. sanctions since June 2024, when the U.K. also sanctioned the exchange; the EU added it in July 2026.
- Exved founder Sergey Mendeleev, who is under U.K. sanctions, told Cointelegraph he doubted demand, saying "Neither the global nor the local market will notice anything at all" and warning of "absolutely outrageous spreads."
- Sberbank has estimated crypto trading in Russia could reach at least 4 trillion rubles (about $46 billion) in the first year of the new framework, with only about 20% on regulated exchanges.
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