Moscow Exchange plans December 1 crypto trading under new law

Moscow Exchange plans to start cryptocurrency trading on December 1. Boris Blokhin, a senior managing director at the exchange, said so on October 8. It would turn Russia's main bourse into a regulated home for Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and other coins.

Blokhin spoke to the state news agency TASS, which first reported his comments. He runs sales and business development at the exchange. "We plan to provide this cryptocurrency trading capability on December 1st, in line with the new legislation," he said.

What the exchange plans

Right now the exchange is testing the service with professional market participants. Testing is under way. Blokhin said the launch would run under a law that took effect on September 1. Moscow Exchange can use its existing license as a trading organizer, so it does not need a fresh registration first. A separate digital depository will settle the trades.

This is not the exchange's first move into crypto. It already offers futures tied to Bitcoin and Ether, available to professional investors. Spot trading, where a buyer holds the actual coin, would go further.

Days earlier, Russia took another step. On October 6 the Bank of Russia admitted five digital depositories and four crypto exchange operators to its first public registers, among them the state banks Sberbank and VTB, a move BTC Newz covered when it happened. Registration lets those firms run the plumbing. The registered companies have until September 2027 to meet the law in full. It does not mean every customer can buy Bitcoin through a banking app tomorrow.

The limits for retail buyers

Russia's crypto law, Bill No. 1194918-8, took effect on September 1, 2026. It legalized trading through licensed intermediaries while keeping a ban on crypto payments for goods and services inside the country. Retail buyers face a tight limit. The cap is real. Non-qualified investors can put no more than 300,000 rubles, about 3,700 dollars, into eligible coins each year through a single broker. For most people that is roughly the cost of a modest secondhand car.

Eligible assets for those buyers are Bitcoin, Ether and Tether's USDT stablecoin, according to the current rules. Qualified investors, who must pass a suitability test, face no such annual cap. Each buyer trades through a licensed firm and a depository that keeps the records, rather than sending coins to a private wallet.

A cross-border motive

The law reaches past a trading desk. It also covers some cross-border transactions, a channel Russia has studied to ease the strain of Western sanctions on its banks. Crypto payments inside the country stay banned. The foreign-trade route is where officials see the practical gain. That is the point.

Foreign partners may still hesitate. A state-run crypto venue in a sanctioned economy carries clear compliance risk for any counterparty abroad, and that caution could limit how useful the market proves.

What to watch

Plenty still rests with the central bank. The Bank of Russia has yet to publish the detailed rules that fix the final list of tradable coins and the exact terms for each investor group. Blokhin framed December 1 as the target. Whether retail customers can buy spot crypto on that day, or only watch professionals trade first, is not yet clear.

Not a done deal. Sources differ on whether December 1 means full spot trading or only technical readiness, and the gap between the two has tripped up other rollouts before. Sberbank, cleared on the same register, is also preparing its own crypto service.

Watch first for the central bank's rules naming the approved coins. Look too for word from Moscow Exchange that spot trading itself goes live, beyond the futures it already runs. The framework phases in through 2027, so December 1 is a start, not the finish.