Russia's Regulated Crypto Trading on Track for $46 Billion in First Year

Russia is set to see significant growth in its regulated crypto trading volume, according to Sberbank Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board Anatoly Popov. The bank expects official exchanges to reach at least 4 trillion rubles ($46.43 billion) during the first year after the legalization of broker crypto trading.

This estimate is based on a conservative assumption that only a small part of the crypto activity will move to regulated brokers. As of February, Finance Ministry data shows daily cryptocurrency transaction volumes in Russia are around 50 billion rubles, or roughly 18 trillion rubles a year.

However, it's worth noting that even with this growth, a significant portion of trading volume is expected to continue being routed outside the regulated exchange system. The law also imposes strict annual purchase caps of $3,800 for retail investors and only allows Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Tether (USDT) to be traded on official Russian exchanges.

Popov emphasized that the bank's expectations are cautious, given that not all investors will migrate to the official exchange system. The estimate projects a slow increase in regulated trading volume to around 7.5 trillion rubles ($87.06 billion) by 2029.