Russia Crypto Exchange Registry Admits VTB, Sberbank and Seven Others

Russia's regulated crypto market now has its first licensed participants. The Bank of Russia said on October 6, 2026, that it had admitted five companies to its register of digital depositories and four to its new Russia crypto exchange registry, the list of organizations allowed to exchange digital currencies. The step follows the law "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights," which took effect on September 1, and it puts some of the country's largest banks inside a supervised crypto framework for the first time.

What happened

In a statement on its website, the central bank said the participants were admitted under the transitional provisions of the new law. From the date they were entered in the registers, the firms must follow the rules for executing and recording transactions with digital currencies and digital rights. They have until September 1, 2027, to bring the rest of their operations fully into line with the legislation.

The central bank did not name the companies in its short release, but crypto.news listed them. The exchange operators are VTB, Zefir, Sistema Crypto and T Invest Lab. The digital depositories are Sberbank, VTB, Atomyze, Voltari and Cloud Infrastructure. VTB is the only firm on both lists.

The two roles are different. Under the central bank's description, digital depositories can record digital currencies and digital rights, process transfers and give clients access to the identifier addresses where those assets are held. Crypto exchange operators can buy and sell digital currencies in their own name and with their own funds outside organized trading venues. The regulator called the first entries an important step in building regulated infrastructure for the Russian digital currency market.

Why it matters

The Russia crypto exchange registry turns a legal framework into working businesses. Russia's crypto law placed trading, custody and certain cross-border transactions under Bank of Russia supervision from September 1, but until this week no firm had been formally admitted. Now Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, and VTB are both inside the system.

Sberbank has set December 1 as its target for launching crypto trading and custody, crypto.news reported, with bitcoin, ether and USDT expected among the first supported assets. The bank plans to offer the services through SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness. VTB is on a similar timetable: deputy CEO Vitaly Sergeichuk said the bank expects to give a wide range of investors access to digital currency trading through VTB My Investments as early as November, with its own crypto exchange expected in December.

The rules for retail users are tight. According to crypto.news, non-qualified investors can buy eligible cryptocurrencies worth up to 300,000 rubles a year through each intermediary after passing a suitability test, while qualified investors face no such annual ceiling. Russia still bans using cryptocurrencies to pay for ordinary goods and services inside the country, although separate rules allow approved use in some cross-border transactions.

Capital and prudential rules are also part of the picture. Draft operating rules published in July set minimum equity for digital depositories between 50 million and 250 million rubles, depending on the services offered. Separate draft prudential rules would cap banks' combined exposure to cryptocurrencies and foreign digital instruments at 1% of capital and apply a 1,250% risk weight. Customers opening accounts with digital depositories must provide their taxpayer identification number, known as the INN.

Russia's approach contrasts with other licensing regimes we have covered, such as the UK's crypto authorisation gateway. Moscow is building a market that runs largely through existing state-linked banks and keeps a close watch on flows, at a time when Western governments continue to target Russia-linked crypto networks, as in the U.S. Treasury's sanctions on the A7 network.

What's next

More admissions are likely. Existing financial market participants can use a simplified process when applying to operate as a crypto exchange or digital depository, crypto.news said, so other banks and brokers may follow the first nine. Reporting requirements covering turnover in crypto instruments and the new prudential ratios are expected to start in January 2027.

The practical test comes in November and December, when VTB and Sberbank plan to open crypto services to clients. Watch how the 300,000-ruble cap, the suitability tests and the INN requirement affect take-up, and whether the Russia crypto exchange registry grows beyond large banks to include independent platforms. The September 2027 compliance deadline gives the first firms a year to finish adapting their operations to the law.