Russia's Moscow Exchange Pilots Crypto Trading for December Launch

The Moscow Exchange, Russia’s largest stock exchange, is preparing to enter the cryptocurrency era by offering trading services by December.

The company, which serves as a trading house for an equity market worth over $660 billion, is running a pilot test to prepare to add crypto trading services to its portfolio. On October 8, Boris Blokhin, Managing Director of Securities Market at the Moscow Exchange, stressed that the tests began a week earlier and that trading was expected to open on December 1.

“On December 1, we plan to provide such an opportunity to trade cryptocurrencies under the new legislation. Therefore, everything is very easy — both for the participants and for us, that is, we use the infrastructure of the stock market on which digital assets will be traded,” he stressed.

Blokhin reiterated that, under current regulation, the exchange would require no additional permits or licenses to offer these services.

The action follows the legalization of Russia’s cryptocurrency market after Bill No. 1194918-8 became effective on September 1, allowing Russian citizens to trade cryptocurrencies on national exchanges licensed by the Bank of Russia.

Nonetheless, the initial national rollout is expected to have limited reach, as unqualified investors will face investment limits that would cap the volume of funds entering the market, with their options restricted to three approved cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether USDT. Conversely, qualified investors with a large risk profile will not be subject to these safeguards.

Even as the central bank has recently eased the requirements to become qualified investors, these limits are expected to affect the growth of the regulated national cryptocurrency market. Sberbank estimates indicate that crypto trading will reach at least 4 trillion rubles ($46.43 billion) in the first year, with only 20% going through exchanges; the remaining volumes will still be routed outside regulated channels.

According to Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov, Russians hold nearly $44 trillion in crypto, mostly allocated in speculative investments and savings products outside the country. With regulation now in place, officials expect these assets to be repatriated, offering regulated venues and guarantees that were unavailable.