Russia moves to restrict retail crypto trading to bitcoin, ether and USDT

Russia’s central bank will allow retail investors to only trade bitcoin BTC$64,105.18, ether ETH$1,909.54 and USDT on regulated exchanges, making Tether’s dollar-linked token the only stablecoin on the initial list.

The draft rules would limit non-qualified investors to 300,000 rubles (around $3,600) of crypto purchases per year at each intermediary. Qualified investors wouldn’t face the cap.

The whitelist adds detail to legislation passed in July that opens regulated crypto trading from Sept. 1 but did not specify which assets retail investors could buy. Crypto payments inside Russia remain prohibited.

The wording sets the 300,000-ruble limit per intermediary rather than across an investor’s total purchases, potentially allowing larger aggregate exposure through multiple brokers or exchanges.