Russia Registers First Crypto Exchanges, Sberbank on Custodian List

The Bank of Russia has published its first registers of authorized crypto operators, listing four crypto exchange operators and five custodians. It is the first concrete output of a crypto law President Vladimir Putin signed in August, which took effect on Sept. 1.

For someone who already holds crypto, the change is narrow but real: a licensed domestic layer now exists on paper. Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, is on the custodian list, and it plans to launch its first crypto products on Dec. 1, initially supporting Bitcoin, Ether and USDt through its existing SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness platforms. The payment ban is untouched. The law keeps Russia's prohibition on using crypto to pay for goods and services.

What the Register Contains

Three of the four exchange operators are named: T-Invest Lab, Zefir and Sistema-Crypto. The fourth operator is not named, and neither are the four custodians other than Sberbank.

The Bank of Russia published the registers on a Tuesday. A full calendar date for that publication has not been confirmed, and the central bank's own register was not fetched for this article. The names above come from reporting on the publication, not from the register itself.

Sberbank Says Its Crypto Products Arrive Dec. 1

Sberbank said it had applied for digital custodian status, and it now appears on the list. Its stated plan is a Dec. 1 launch covering three assets: Bitcoin, Ether and USDt. The bank intends to offer them inside apps its customers already use rather than through a standalone exchange.

That detail matters more than the licence itself. It means holding crypto through a bank account rather than a foreign venue, with the bank sitting between the customer and the asset. It is a plan, not a live product, and no date slip has been disclosed either way.

The Rules the Law Sets

The new regime puts the market under the Bank of Russia's oversight, and it covers exchanges, custodians, brokers and investors. Beyond the list of who is authorized, the details are thin. How brokers and investors are treated is not clear from what has been published, and neither are the licensing requirements, fees or capital thresholds the law sets.

What is clear is the boundary. The payment prohibition survives in full, which leaves the market for trading and holding, not spending.

Open Questions Before Dec. 1

For the firms, the question is whether a place on the register becomes a working business.

• Whether any of the registered operators has started live trading or custody.
• Whether Sberbank's Dec. 1 date holds, and which of the three assets it lists first.
• The licensing rules, fees and capital thresholds the regulator will apply.

Nothing in a register obliges a bank to build anything, and none of the nine listings comes with a customer-facing product attached yet. Dec. 1 is the date that turns the paperwork into something a holder can actually use.