- Moscow Exchange will launch Bitcoin, Ether, and USDT trading on December 1, with sessions running 06:50–23:50 Moscow time.
- Retail investors face a cap of 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,700) per year per broker.
- The Moscow Exchange has been under US sanctions since June 2024 and EU sanctions since July 2026.
- Sberbank projects the new crypto market could reach four trillion rubles ($49 billion) in its first year.
Russia Opens Crypto Trading On Sanctioned Exchange
One of Russia’s biggest financial institutions, the Moscow Exchange, has officially launched crypto trading for Bitcoin, Ether and USDT on December 1, 2026.
Source: moex.com
Trading will take place between 06:50 to 23:50 Moscow time providing nearly round the clock trading within Russia. However, the exchange has been sanctioned by the US in June 2024 due to Russia’s ongoing military actions in Ukraine, and then added to the EU sanctions list in July 2026.
Retail Caps & Market Projections
Retail traders on the platform will have a limit of 300,000 rubles ($3,700) per broker, per annum. Institutional traders will not have this limit. Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman at Sberbank said he is optimistic that the size of the market for crypto trading within Russia can hit four trillion rubles ($49 billion) in its first year. This indicates an expected large amount of money flowing into the Russian market.
Tether Freeze Policy Remains Unresolved
A key concern going forward is the freezing policy Tether will have with respect to USDT on the exchange. In the past, Tether has frozen wallets on request of OFAC relating to sanctioned entities. It remains unclear if the USDT will be frozen by Tether if it is traded on the Moscow Exchange. Tether and the exchange itself have not commented on how they will interact with the stablecoin going forward.
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