Russia's central bank is rapidly widening the list of firms allowed to trade crypto, as the country's two biggest lenders prepare to sell Bitcoin and other coins to ordinary customers before the end of the year.

The Bank of Russia added a 17th company, Prosto LLC, to its register of crypto exchange providers on Thursday, according to a notice on the regulator's website. The register had four members when it opened on 6 October. The separate register of digital depositories, which record who owns which coins, now has eight.

The registrations put into practice a law "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights", which took effect on 1 September and brings crypto trading inside Russia's regulated financial system for the first time.

Sberbank and VTB hold both licences

Sberbank and VTB, Russia's largest state-controlled banks, 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. 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, according to the central bank.

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.

"We expect to open access to digital currency trading for a broad range of investors through VTB My Investments and directly through the bank's exchange in November and December 2026 respectively," Vitaly Sergeichuk, VTB's deputy president and chairman of the management board, said, 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, CoinDesk reported.

Limits for retail buyers

The new rules draw a sharp line between retail and professional investors.

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, the central bank said in July. 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.

Exporters and importers, however, can use crypto for cross-border settlements without restrictions, either through intermediaries or directly from any type of wallet.

Sberbank moved first on that front. On 1 September it launched crypto payments for companies engaged in foreign trade, 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, Vedyakhin said.

Smaller players pile in

The two state banks are not alone. T-Technologies, the parent of T-Bank, has registered its units Atomyze as a depository and T-Invest Lab as an exchange provider.

A string of newly formed companies have since joined the exchange register, central bank records show. MTS Bank has said it plans to launch basic crypto services in the fourth quarter, Interfax reported.

Banks and other licensed institutions can join the registers through a simplified procedure that takes one working day, according to the central bank.

What's next

Firms already on the registers have until 1 September 2027 to bring their operations fully in line with the law, the central bank said.

From 1 July 2027, Russian residents will be allowed to trade crypto only through registered intermediaries, the regulator said, which would effectively end peer-to-peer trading settled through Russian bank accounts. Authorities plan to introduce penalties for unlicensed crypto intermediaries from the same date, mirroring those for illegal banking.

Kyle Pare is a reporter for DL News. Have a tip? Contact Kyle at [email protected].