Crypto12 October, 20262 min read
Bank of Russia Adds Sberbank to Crypto Exchange Register, Sberbank Plans Dec. 1 Trading
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Sberbank was added to Bank of Russia's cryptocurrency exchange register. It plans to launch crypto trading for all clients on December 1, 2026.
9 outlets told this the same way.
Sberbank gets crypto nod
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, received approval from the Bank of Russia to exchange cryptocurrencies after the central bank added it to its register of cryptocurrency exchange providers, according to Interfax.
Sberbank had already joined the digital depository register earlier in the month, giving it a role in recording clients’ crypto holdings, and the approval placed it among nine organizations on the exchange register including VTB and T-Invest Lab.
Sberbank planned to open crypto trading to all clients on Dec. 1 and said it was already testing BTC, ETH and USDT trades in its app.
The Bank of Russia’s framework created a regulated market involving banks, brokers, exchanges and digital depositories, while domestic crypto payments remained prohibited.
Sberbank’s first products were set to debut on Dec. 1 through interfaces its customers already use, according to Interfax.
Rules tighten after launch
Sberbank’s rollout came with tighter controls, because the central bank said crypto payments remain banned and that from July 2027 trades must go through registered intermediaries. The July rule would effectively shut out peer-to-peer transactions settled through Russian bank accounts. The central bank registration did not disclose the exact scope of permitted transactions and did not disclose the launch schedule for the service.
The central bank set the final list of permitted coins, while Sberbank told Vedomosti it was testing trades in BTC, ETH and USDT and other major tokens. The authorization enabled Sberbank to offer cryptocurrency services via its existing digital banking platforms rather than requiring customers to move to a separate service.
Institutional shift, separate functions
The Bank of Russia’s system separated functions between exchange operators and digital depositories, with exchange operators able to buy and sell digital currencies for their own account outside organized exchanges and depositories recording ownership and transfers.
The combination provided a route for Sberbank to offer both trading and custody-related services, after it started working on a crypto wallet earlier this year.
Two entries for Sberbank in the digital depository registry reflected different cryptocurrency-related business activities, trading and storage of digital assets.
The approval marked another step away from the central bank’s 2022 proposal to ban domestic crypto exchanges and prohibit Russian financial intermediaries from handling cryptocurrencies.
Registered firms had to follow transaction rules immediately and meet remaining requirements by Sept. 1, 2027, under the new digital asset law that took effect Sept. 1.