At a glance

  • The Bank of Russia has approved bitcoin, ether and USDT as the cryptocurrencies that non-qualified investors may buy, it said in a statement on 6 Nov. The ordinance takes effect on 17 Nov 2026, and from that date the three assets may be publicly traded on exchanges.
  • Retail purchases are capped at ₽300,000 a year per intermediary, about $3,650 (€3,250) at the central bank’s official rates for 7 Nov. Every buyer, qualified or not, must first pass a test and read about the risks.

Non-qualified investors will buy through intermediaries such as brokers, trust managers and crypto exchange offices, on exchanges or over the counter, the central bank said. Qualified investors get access to all crypto assets without those restrictions.

What the rule says

The list is deliberately short. The central bank said it chose only the most liquid assets that meet the criteria set in law, looking at market capitalisation, average daily trading volume and a price history on foreign exchanges of at least five years.

“Non-qualified” is the Russian term for ordinary retail investors, as opposed to those who meet wealth, income or experience tests and are treated as professionals. The cap applies per intermediary, so it limits what a buyer can put through any single broker or exchange office in a year, not what they can hold.

The ordinance completes a framework that started with Russia’s law on digital currencies, which took effect on 1 Sep, and the central bank’s register of licensed crypto exchangers, which had reached 17 firms by late October.

Where trading will happen

Moscow Exchange said on 2 Nov that it plans to let market participants trade digital currencies from 1 Dec, starting with pilot deals and adding participants as they are ready, according to its announcement (in Russian; our translation). The first instruments are BTC, ETH and USDT, cleared through its National Clearing Centre and traded on stock-market hours, 06:50 to 23:50 Moscow time.

Both the exchange and its clearing house are under US sanctions, CoinDesk noted, which raises the question of how Tether’s practice of freezing wallets linked to sanctioned parties would apply to USDT held through that system. Neither Tether nor the exchange has addressed that point publicly in the documents we reviewed.

Why it matters in Europe

Russia is building a domestic, licensed route into crypto at the same moment Western governments are tightening sanctions on Russian crypto channels, including the UK’s sanctions on Cryptomus’s owner.

The design also differs sharply from the EU’s. Under MiCA, licensed providers can offer a wide range of tokens to retail clients without a state-approved coin list or a yearly purchase cap; see what MiCA requires of crypto firms in the EU. Russia has chosen a central bank list, a ceiling and a mandatory test.

What happens next

The ordinance takes effect on Tuesday 17 Nov; from then, licensed venues may admit the three coins to public trading. Moscow Exchange’s pilot is due to start on 1 Dec.

The central bank has not said when, or whether, it will review the list. This is not legal advice.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice.