The Bank of Russia said Wednesday that exchanges may start organized trading in cryptocurrencies on Nov. 22, once the central bank has approved their trading rules, a step that lands just ahead of Moscow Exchange’s planned Dec. 1 bitcoin launch.
The ordinance, which amends the Bank of Russia’s rules for organized trading, was registered by the Justice Ministry on Nov. 3 and published Wednesday on the regulator’s site. It takes effect 10 days after publication, on Nov. 22.
Exchanges will have to register the brokers, trust managers and central counterparties that take part in crypto trades, keep registers of orders and deals, and monitor the activity. They must also calculate a current price, a weighted-average price, a market price and a closing price, and report trading activity to the central bank in the same way they already do for other assets.
The regulator was clear about the order of operations. Exchanges may open crypto markets from Nov. 22, it said, “but first they must agree with the regulator on the rules for conducting such trading.” It did not say whether any venue has already cleared that review.
Who can buy, and what they can buy
A separate ordinance, published Nov. 6 and due to take effect Nov. 17, sets the menu for ordinary buyers. The Bank of Russia approved bitcoin, ether and Tether’s USDT for purchase by non-qualified investors, and said exchanges may admit those assets to public trading from that date.
Non-qualified investors can buy through a broker, a trust manager or a registered crypto exchange office, on an exchange or over the counter. Purchases through a single intermediary may not exceed 300,000 rubles a year, roughly $3,600 at the official exchange rate. Qualified investors can access all cryptoassets with no purchase cap.
Both groups still have to pass a knowledge test and read a risk disclosure before they can trade. The list is limited to the most liquid assets that meet the law’s tests for market capitalization, average daily volume and at least five years of pricing history on foreign exchanges.
Moscow Exchange still aims for Dec. 1
Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest trading venue, announced on Nov. 2 that it plans to offer bitcoin, ether and USDT trades from Dec. 1, initially as a pilot while participants connect. Trading would run on its existing stock-market systems from 6:50 a.m. to 11:50 p.m. Moscow time, with the National Clearing Centre clearing the deals and clients able to settle the same day or the next.
Bitcoin Magazine reported the Dec. 1 plan last week, including the U.S. sanctions that already cover the exchange and its clearing house. Boris Blokhin, a senior managing director at the exchange, said in early October that Moscow Exchange would not need additional licenses to start and would use a partner settlement digital depository. Wednesday’s notice still requires the central bank to sign off on the trading rules themselves. The exchange has not said publicly whether that approval is already in hand.
SPB Exchange, the St. Petersburg venue, has said it wants to start organized crypto trading by the end of the year and is building a settlement digital depository of its own, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported in October.
The market sits on Federal Law No. 282-FZ, “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights,” whose main provisions took effect on Sept. 1. The law licenses exchanges, brokers, managers, depositories and exchangers, recognizes crypto as property and opens a supervised channel for cross-border trade. It still bans using crypto to pay for goods and services inside Russia. Officials have spent the fall standing up the rest of the plumbing, including a self-regulatory body for crypto exchanges and digital depositories.
The test now is not whether Russia will have a legal exchange market for bitcoin, but when the first venue actually opens, and whether a 300,000-ruble retail cap is enough to pull traders off the offshore desks they already use.
