Russian banks move first to compete for the country’s official crypto exchange market

Sberbank and T-Bank have said they are applying for digital custodian status, with plans to start trading cryptoassets already in December. For high-risk payment providers, the important part is not the banking PR — it is that Russia is preparing a regulated onshore rail for crypto trading, and banks are expected to be the main gatekeepers.

1. Sberbank and T-Bank announced applications for the status of a digital custodian, a prerequisite for participating in Russia’s official digital asset market. Their stated timetable is to begin trading cryptoassets in December, while the Bank of Russia has previously said it wants to launch a formal legal market for digital currencies by the end of the year.
2. Quoted by Kommersant, market experts expect banks to become the main players on the official Russian crypto market. The thing is, that does not automatically mean mass retail adoption: Yuri Belikov, managing director at Expert RA, said banks are unlikely to capture a large client base quickly, because credit institutions face strict rules, including a 1% of capital limit on crypto investments.
3. Belikov said the limit applies primarily to banks’ own investments in digital assets and to the risk they take on when servicing client transactions. He also pointed out that the legal status of crypto in Russia does not encourage long-term positions, which is another reason why broad retail demand is not expected to materialize.
4. According to the same source, the real demand comes from companies using crypto to settle with counterparties under sanctions pressure. Kommersant also reported that authorities may ban credit institutions from processing client payments to foreign or unregistered exchanges and trading platforms, which would push more flow into the licensed perimeter if that rule is introduced.
5. Yaroslav Kabakov, director of strategy at Finam, said the legal domestic market will not be able to compete with the crypto industry already established in the West. In his view, the regulated Russian market will mainly serve larger participants, including hedging and foreign trade, while small investors are unlikely to move in at scale.

The Russian Ministry of Finance expects crypto to flow in large volumes from foreign exchanges and wallets once trading starts on state-regulated venues. Deputy minister Ivan Chebeskov previously said that this inflow should help prevent abnormal price gaps in crypto assets.