Moscow Exchange is opening trading in digital currencies on December 1, 2026. Investors will get access to BTC, ETH, and USDT through the brokers they already use and the exchange’s existing infrastructure. The state is giving people a way to invest in crypto within a regulated framework, but it is also cutting off independent control over those assets, which is what drew many people to crypto in the first place.
Launch Details
Moscow Exchange will use its stock market infrastructure, with unified clearing handled by the National Clearing Centre. Trades run through the exchange’s order book. From December 1, clients will be able to trade with same-day and next-day settlement, as well as use swap operations to manage liquidity.
At launch, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDT will be available in both negotiated and anonymous trading modes. All three meet the Bank of Russia’s criteria for purchase by non-qualified investors. The list will later grow to include international and Russian assets.
The launch is a pilot, with participants joining as they become ready.
“There are already enough people who want to test the new platform to get started,” Boris Blokhin, Moscow Exchange’s senior managing director for sales and business development, said earlier.
Restrictions That Remain
The rules rest on Federal Law No. 282-FZ on Digital Currencies and Digital Rights. Under the law, individuals can’t transfer crypto from a digital account with a Russian digital depository to their own non-custodial wallet. The same goes for direct transfers between individuals via addresses administered by digital depositories.
Vladimir Putin signed the law in early August. Its core provisions take effect on September 1, 2026, while the key rules come into force in July and September 2027.
From July 1, 2027, direct transactions between individuals will no longer be on the list of permitted operations. After that date, a resident will be able to carry out operations with digital currencies only through entities that organize digital currency circulation, or directly with them.
Paying for goods and services with crypto domestically is still banned. A special regime applies to cross-border payments.
No-Freedom Crypto
Russia is opening a regulated market, but it leaves out crypto’s main advantage: the ability to control your own assets.
You will be able to buy Bitcoin through Moscow Exchange, but you won’t be able to withdraw it to your own wallet. Starting in July 2027, the familiar peer-to-peer (P2P) trading between individuals will also be restricted. The result is a rather strange arrangement: the rules let people buy crypto as an investment, but limit its use as a tool for financial independence.
In our view, Russia isn’t so much legalizing the crypto market as trying to herd it into regulated financial infrastructure. Still, users accustomed to trading assets freely are unlikely to give up their usual ways of trading en masse. Part of the market may simply go underground and keep operating outside the permitted platforms.
In the end, trading on Moscow Exchange is not yet the legalization of cryptocurrency in the sense the crypto community has in mind. It is permission to invest in digital assets on the state’s terms. This model leaves next to nothing of crypto’s original idea: autonomy, free transfers, and the absence of intermediaries.