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Russia's Biggest Bank Sberbank Lands Approval to Trade Bitcoin
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The Bank of Russia has added Sberbank to its register of organizations authorized to exchange digital currencies, clearing the country's largest lender to buy and sell crypto in its own name and with its own money.
Key facts
- Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov has forecast that crypto trading volumes in Russia could reach 4 trillion rubles, roughly $46 billion, in the regime's first year and 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029
- Under the law Putin signed in August, non-qualified investors can spend up to 300,000 rubles (about $3,800) a year per intermediary, buyers must pass a knowledge test, and the central bank's draft
- Sberbank ended the second quarter with 110.6 million retail clients and 3.5 million corporate clients, per its quarterly results
- Firms already on the registers have until September 1, 2027, to bring their operations fully in line with the new law, the central bank said
Summary
The Bank of Russia added Sberbank to its register of crypto exchange operators on October 12, six days after listing it as a digital depository. Sberbank plans to launch its first crypto products on December 1 inside SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness, starting with Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT. Retail buyers face a 300,000 ruble annual cap per intermediary and a mandatory knowledge test, and paying for goods with crypto remains illegal in Russia. The approval landed six days after the central bank put Sberbank on its separate list of digital depositories, the firms that keep the official record of who owns which coins.