Russia has registered its first four cryptocurrency exchange operators and five digital custodians under the regulated crypto market framework that opened on Sept. 1, moving the country from legal grey zone to supervised infrastructure in the space of a month.
According to the Bank of Russia, the first companies were admitted under transitional provisions of the law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” allowing them to operate while bringing their businesses fully into compliance by Sept. 1, 2027. The registrations put the first group of financial institutions and crypto businesses inside the regulated infrastructure created by the law signed by President Vladimir Putin in August.
## Who made the lists
The crypto exchange operator register comprises VTB, Zefir, Sistema Crypto and T Invest Lab. Notably, VTB, one of Russia’s largest state-owned banks, appears on both registers, having also been admitted as a digital custodian alongside Sberbank, Atomyze, Voltari and Cloud Infrastructure.
Sberbank’s inclusion comes shortly before the lender plans to begin offering its own crypto infrastructure to customers. The bank has set Dec. 1 as the target for launching crypto trading and custody, with its planned infrastructure covering trading, settlement and digital depository services. Bitcoin, Ether and USDT are expected to be among the first supported assets, and the services will be distributed through SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness platforms.
VTB is moving on a similar timetable. Deputy CEO Vitaly Sergeichuk said the bank expects to provide a wide range of investors with access to digital currency trading through VTB My Investments as early as November, according to statements reported alongside the registration announcement.
## What registered firms can actually do
The two register types carry sharply different powers. Digital depositories, the custodian category, can record digital currencies and digital rights, process transfers and provide customers with access to the identifier addresses where their assets are held. Crypto exchange operators have a different mandate: they can buy and sell digital currencies in their own name and using their own funds, but outside organized trading venues.
Companies must follow transaction and accounting rules from the date they enter the registers, while the transitional period gives them until September 2027 to meet the remaining requirements. That two-year runway is designed to let existing institutions convert their operations without halting services, but it also means the full supervisory regime phases in gradually rather than arriving at once.
The registrations follow operating rules published by the central bank covering how crypto exchanges and digital depositories can enter the market. The regulator set qualification standards for management and certain officers, documentation requirements and procedures for deciding whether a company should be admitted. Existing financial market participants can use a simplified admission process when applying, a path clearly designed for the banking giants that now dominate both registers.
## Capital rules and the depository framework
Russia had been preparing this infrastructure well before the first registrations. In July, the Bank of Russia published draft operating rules that included capital requirements for digital depositories based on the services they provide. Minimum equity was set between 50 million rubles and 250 million rubles, with the amount depending on factors such as whether a company works with open distributed ledgers or provides post-trade settlement services.
The rules treat digital depositories in a similar way to traditional securities depositories, requiring them to keep records of assets and information on customers with access to the system. That framing signals the central bank’s broader approach: absorbing crypto infrastructure into the existing Russian financial supervision architecture rather than constructing a parallel regime.
Sberbank has been preparing products beyond trading as the framework takes shape. In August, the lender disclosed plans to accept BTC, ETH and USDT as collateral for loans once the required regulatory approvals are in place, a service that would make it one of the first major banks anywhere to lend against crypto collateral under a national license.
## Context: sanctions pressure and digital alternatives
The registrations land in a complicated geopolitical context. Japan recently sanctioned Garantex among 33 Russian entities, and earlier international measures cut Russian users off from major global exchanges and payment rails. A domestic, regulated market gives Russian institutions a legal on-ramp that operates inside the country’s own supervisory perimeter, and the dominance of state-owned banks in the first registration wave suggests the state intends to keep tight control over who operates it.
The move also parallels the rapid domestic rollout of central bank digital currency. Russia’s digital ruble passed 220,000 accounts in its first month, nearly four times the central bank’s forecast, and the same law-making apparatus has now produced a licensed private crypto market alongside the CBDC. The two systems are designed for different purposes, but both reflect a state strategy of channeling digital asset activity into observable, supervised channels.
## What comes next
The immediate calendar points to November and December, when VTB and Sberbank respectively are expected to open crypto trading to their retail and institutional customer bases. If those launches proceed on schedule, Russia will move from registration paperwork to a functioning retail crypto market inside a single quarter.
For international observers, the experiment is worth watching precisely because of its unusual design: a market where exchange operators trade with their own funds, custodians are regulated like securities depositories, and the largest state banks are the first entrants. Whether that structure produces genuine market depth or a tightly managed, bank-controlled gateway is the open question the September 2027 compliance deadline will begin to answer.
Bitcoin traded near 83,173 USD at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko data, a reminder that the assets Russia’s new licensees will custody and trade remain globally priced and globally volatile, whatever the shape of the domestic rules around them.
four exchanges and five custodians inside one month of the framework opening. moscow builds supervised rails while congress is still drafting the same bill for a fifth year
VTB sitting on both registers is the tell. state banks running the exchange pipes tells you exactly what this framework is for
exactly. the august law was never about freedom, its tracked and taxed rails. still hard to see it not pulling liquidity in
you both realize the state banks ARE the offshore market now right? same rails, different flag
VTB and Sberbank running registered crypto exchanges while US banks still will not touch custody. wild timeline
BTC ETH and USDT as first assets makes sense. the ruble question is the one nobody answers tho
the ruble stays off the table because capital controls are the whole point. crypto in, ruble out through state pipes is the actual product being built here
Finally someone says it plainly. Watch which assets get deep books on the state pipes and which stay thin, that tells you what the framework is actually for.
exactly this. my bet is BTC and USDT get the deep books and everything else stays decorative on Zefir and Sistema
four exchanges and five custodians registered before the ico rules even exist. moscow ships first, drafts paperwork later
the ico rules genuinely not existing yet is my favorite detail. registered venues, no issuance framework, full compliance promised by 2027. moscow speed
law signed in August, first registrations by October, full compliance by 2027. fast when they want to be
Sberbank launching with USDT support of all things while US rules are still stuck in committee. geopolitics is weird man
trading starts dec 1 through basically one state pipe, full compliance by 2027. curious what real volumes look like vs the offshore market
offshore books will dwarf the licensed volumes for years. dec 1 sberbank launch is a compliance shell until p2p traders get an actual reason to migrate
migration happens the second a licensed venue gives you a clean fiat exit without the p2p haircut. dec 1 answers that question real fast
clean fiat exit without the p2p haircut is exactly it. but nov VTB access and dec 1 Sberbank only matter if the spreads actually beat the offshore desks, otherwise nothing moves
migration only sticks if the tax records stay clean. dec 1 books fill with arb desks first, the p2p crowd waits for spreads to actually beat the offshore haircut
the migration math is simple, licensed spreads have to beat the p2p haircut plus the counterparty risk discount. dec 1 wont answer that, six months of books will
bet the dec 1 books look thin for months. the offshore desks already have the liquidity and the muscle memory
muscle memory is underrated, half the p2p crowd doesnt even bank with VTB or Sber. thin books until the tokenized commodity stuff shows up, that part i buy
digital depositories that can record rights AND transfers… this is a settlement layer with crypto branding. pretty clever framing actually
Sergeichuk promising a wide range of investors on VTB My Investments by November is a bolder timeline than Sberbank Dec 1. Two state pipes opening a month apart, that is the actual story here.
initial coin offering rules still being drafted lol. the exchanges are live before the ICO framework even exists, very on brand
everyone staring at VTB and Sberbank but Atomyze and Voltari as custodians is the quiet part. tokenized commodities settling inside these rails before the 2027 compliance deadline is the real endgame
tokenized commodities on state rails before the 2027 deadline is the one angle nobody prices. if commodity settlement actually lands on Atomyze the volume debate changes overnight
VTB on both registers is the detail that matters. The operator and the custodian being the same state bank removes any pretense of separation between exchange and client assets.