Russia's largest bank has moved into the country's regulated crypto market after the Bank of Russia added Sberbank to its register of cryptocurrency exchange providers on 12 October. The decision means Sberbank can buy and sell digital currencies in its own name and quote prices to its own customers, rather than routing orders elsewhere.
The approval comes less than a week after Sberbank joined the separate digital depository register. Holding both registrations allows the bank to combine trading and custody in one institution, a position shared so far only by VTB among the current market participants.
Russia's crypto law took effect on 1 September 2026 after President Vladimir Putin signed it in August. The Bank of Russia began building the registers in the following weeks. On 7 October the first lists named four exchange operators and five custodians, with Sberbank initially appearing only as a custodian. News reports now put the total at ten authorized exchange operators and six digital asset custodians.
Sberbank plans to launch crypto services on 1 December 2026 through SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness. Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman, said the bank aims to put infrastructure in place and launch its digital depository by the same date. The bank is testing Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether in its app, though the Bank of Russia will set the final list of permitted coins.
Moscow Exchange has also indicated plans to enable crypto trading from 1 December, and VTB has a rollout running through November and December. Non-qualified investors may buy up to 300,000 rubles, roughly $3,500, of eligible cryptocurrencies a year through each intermediary after passing a test. Qualified investors face no annual purchase cap. Crypto cannot be used to pay for goods and services in Russia, and from July 2027 transactions must run through registered intermediaries.
Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov told TASS that first-year Russian crypto trading could reach about 4 trillion rubles, or roughly $46 billion, calling the projection conservative, with about 7.5 trillion rubles, near $87 billion, possible by 2029. Sberbank also wants to accept Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether as loan collateral once regulators permit those assets for public circulation.
