Russia's Crypto Market Set for Explosive Growth
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.
The new rules allow both qualified and ordinary investors to access cryptocurrency through regulated intermediaries, with non-qualified investors facing a 300,000-ruble annual purchase limit per intermediary and must pass a knowledge test.
Russia is building regulated infrastructure around crypto investment, custody, and selected cross-border uses, rather than making Bitcoin or USDT legal tender for ordinary domestic payments.