Russian Limits Retail Crypto to Bitcoin, Ether and Tether

The proposed rules, published Tuesday (Aug. 11) by the Russian central bank, would allow those investors to trade only bitcoin, ether and Tether’s USDT stablecoin, limiting them to 300,000 rubles (around $3,600) of crypto purchases per year with each currency.

“To protect unqualified investors from sharp and unpredictable fluctuations in cryptocurrency prices, only the most liquid cryptocurrencies will be available to them,” the proposal said.

The news follows a report last month from CoinDesk that Sberbank, Russia’s biggest bank, was planning to launch a crypto wallet and digital depository this year.

The new services will become part of the Sberbank Online and SberInvestments platforms once Russia passes its bill “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” due to take effect next month. The wallet would give Sberbank clients access to authorized cryptocurrencies within the bank’s apps. Sberbank also wants to develop a digital depository for crypto tokens.

“As regulations emerge, we will prepare a service for our clients. Essentially, it will be a crypto wallet, which we will implement first in Sberbank Online and SberInvestments,” said Kirill Tsarev, first deputy chairman of the bank’s management board.