Russia's Largest Bank Sberbank Set to Authorize Crypto Trading

Sberbank plans to open crypto trading to all clients on December 1 and is currently testing BTC, ETH, and USDT transactions in its app.

Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, has received a license to exchange cryptocurrencies, furthering Moscow's efforts to bring crypto trading and custody into its regulated financial system.

According to Interfax, the Bank of Russia added Sberbank to the register of digital currency exchange providers. The bank previously joined the Digital Depository Registry earlier this month, giving it a role in registering customers' crypto assets.

Now there are 9 organizations including VTB and T-Invest Lab in the stock exchange register.

The approval is another step from the central bank's proposal in 2022 to ban domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and ban Russian financial intermediaries from working with digital currencies. The law, which took effect on September 1, instead creates a regulated market that includes banks, brokers, exchanges and digital depositors.

These two registries cover different segments of that market. According to the central bank, registered crypto dealers can buy and sell cryptocurrencies using their funds outside of organized exchanges, while depositors record ownership and transfers.

The combination paves the way for Sberbank to offer trading and custody services, as it also began working on a crypto wallet earlier this year.

This opening is accompanied by stricter control over the way investors' coins are kept and moved. Payments in domestic currencies are still banned, and the central bank says that from July next year, digital currency transactions must be made. Registered intermediaries This effectively blocks peer-to-peer transactions settled through Russian bank accounts.

According to Interfax, Sberbank plans to introduce its first products on December 1 through the interfaces that its customers already use. This bank is preparing infrastructure for digital currency transactions.

Sberbank told Vedomosti that the bank is currently testing transactions in BTC, ETH, USDT and other major tokens in its app, although the central bank will determine the final list of permitted coins.

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