From Decrypt · By Jose Antonio Lanz
In brief
The Bank of Russia added Sberbank to its register of crypto exchange operators on October 12, six days after listing it as a digital depository.
Sberbank plans to launch its first crypto products on December 1 inside SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness, starting with Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT.
Retail buyers face a 300,000 ruble annual cap per intermediary and a mandatory knowledge test, and paying for goods with crypto remains illegal in Russia.
The Bank of Russia has added Sberbank to its register of organizations authorized to exchange digital currencies, clearing the country's largest lender to buy and sell crypto in its own name and with its own money. The decision was posted on the regulator's website, Russian outlet Interfax reported.
The approval landed six days after the central bank put Sberbank on its separate list of digital depositories, the firms that keep the official record of who owns which coins. Holding both statuses lets the bank sit on the other side of a client's trade and also keep the ledger of that client's holdings, without sending anyone to an outside venue.
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Sberbank said the depository status would let it offer crypto services in interfaces clients already use. That means SberBank Online, SberInvestments and SberBusiness, where the bank plans to start with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Tether's USDT on December 1, according to its press service.
The bank has hedged that date, saying it depends on the central bank's decisions and on the secondary regulations being ready in time. Both approvals by the Bank of Russia have now arrived, which leaves the secondary rulebook as the main variable.
Sberbank ended the second quarter with 110.6 million retail clients and 3.5 million corporate clients, per its quarterly results. Plugging crypto into that user base turns a regulated on-ramp into one more menu item inside an app those customers already use for everyday banking.
Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov has forecast that crypto trading volumes in Russia could reach 4 trillion rubles, roughly $46 billion, in the regime's first year and 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029 or nearly $89.7 billion. The bank also plans to accept Ethereum and USDT, alongside Bitcoin, as collateral for loans once the central bank allows them into public circulation.
BitcoinBTC · USD$81,831−1.92%Oct 7Oct 9Oct 11Oct 13Oct 14$84.2k$83.1k$81.9k$80.7k24h HighHigh$84,02524h LowLow$81,482VolVol$1.4BMarket projectionsOdds by MyriadThis weekBelow $82,000Below $82k52% chance→Buy Bitcoin with USDTPowered by JupiterPrice data by CoinGeckoCoinGeckoMore Bitcoin news and projections →Under the law Putin signed in August, non-qualified investors can spend up to 300,000 rubles (about $3,800) a year per intermediary, buyers must pass a knowledge test, and the central bank's draft list of tradable coins includes only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT.