Russia’s $46B Crypto Market Puts Bitcoin, USDT and Ruble Liquidity in Focus

Russia’s regulated cryptocurrency market is set to open with potentially substantial trading activity as banks and brokers prepare to bring more crypto transactions into domestic financial infrastructure.

Sberbank expects regulated Russian exchanges to process between 3.5 trillion and 4 trillion rubles, or as much as roughly $46 billion, during the first year of the new framework. By 2029, annual volume could reach around 7.5 trillion rubles.

Russia Opens Crypto Trading to a Wider Investor Base

Under the new rules, both qualified and ordinary investors can access cryptocurrency through regulated intermediaries.

Non-qualified investors face a 300,000-ruble annual purchase limit per intermediary and must pass a knowledge test. Qualified investors can trade without that cap.

The framework does not make Bitcoin or USDT legal tender for ordinary domestic payments. Instead, Russia is building regulated infrastructure around crypto investment, custody and selected cross-border uses.

That expands on earlier efforts covered in Coinpaper’s reporting on Sberbank’s crypto services and Russia’s wider crypto framework.

Sberbank is also preparing crypto-backed lending products. The lender has discussed loans secured by Bitcoin, Ether and USDT once the required regulatory structures are in place.