Russia’s central bank adds VTB and T-Technologies units to crypto exchange and digital custody registers

The Bank of Russia started filling its registers of digital custodians and crypto exchangers on 6 October, and VTB plus several structures linked to T-Technologies are already in. For PSPs and banks watching high-risk flows, the point is simple: Russia is now building a formal on-ramp for crypto activity rather than leaving it in regulatory limbo.

1. According to the regulator’s website, five organizations were added to the register of digital custodians: VTB, Sberbank, Atomayz, AO Voltari, and OOO Oblachnaya Infrastruktura. Atomayz is part of T-Technologies.
2. The register of crypto exchangers includes VTB, T-Invest Lab, Sistema-Krypto, and Zefir. T-Invest Lab is also a T-Technologies structure.
3. The Bank of Russia said all companies added to these registers must bring their activities into compliance with the legislation on digital currencies by 1 September 2027. In practice, that gives the newly listed players a runway, but not an open-ended one.
4. The admission procedure for market participants in crypto, digital custody, and crypto exchange came into force on 5 October, after being approved by the central bank. Companies have to submit a document package to the regulator, and existing market participants get a simplified path to status as a digital custodian or crypto exchanger.
5. Russia’s law regulating cryptocurrency operations entered into force on 1 September. It sets the rules for crypto circulation in the Russian market and the conditions for transactions by qualified and non-qualified investors. Sberbank said it plans to launch its first products on 1 December, starting with bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT. Moscow Exchange has also said it will be ready to launch crypto trading from 1 December, according to supervisory board chairman Sergey Shvetsov. VTB said it expects to give investors access to digital currency trading in November via VTB My Investments, and in December directly through its exchanger.