Russia's New Crypto Regulations to Bring Billions to Regulated Exchanges

Russia's new crypto market regulations are set to take effect on September 1, after being signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on August 4. These regulations aim to bring order and transparency to the country's cryptocurrency trading scene.

The largest bank in Russia, Sber, has made a conservative estimate that regulated domestic exchanges will see a trading volume of around $46.4 billion in their first year after legalization. This figure is expected to grow to approximately 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029, according to Sber's Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov.

The growth in crypto trading volumes is attributed to the fact that a large share of transactions will continue to be conducted through unregulated exchanges, bypassing regulated platforms. The new regulations allow non-qualified investors to buy up to 300,000 Russian rubles worth of cryptocurrency per year through each intermediary, while qualified investors face no purchase limits.

The proposed list of crypto assets that could be admitted to public trading on exchanges under the new rules includes Bitcoin, Ether, and Tether's stablecoin USDT. This development marks a significant step towards legitimizing the country's cryptocurrency market.