Sberbank says it plans to roll out infrastructure for regulated cryptocurrency trading by December 1, 2026, marking a new step in Russia’s effort to build a licensed market for digital assets. The planned system includes a digital depository designed to record clients’ rights to crypto, support transfers, and account for transactions that take place outside the main blockchain.
Launch plan and platform design
According to the report, the bank intends to make the depository component operational by the start of December 2026. The system is meant to serve as core infrastructure for licensed crypto trading rather than as a simple retail-facing product.
Its stated functions include recording ownership of cryptocurrency, processing transfers, and handling so-called off-chain transactions. In practical terms, that would allow the platform to track customer rights and transaction activity even when transfers are not written directly to the underlying blockchain.
Sberbank’s role in the emerging market
The bank has been working on infrastructure for licensed crypto trading since 2022, the report said. During that period, it has also taken part in related digital asset activity, including issuing crypto-linked digital financial assets, or DFAs, and testing loans backed by cryptocurrency.
The article says Sberbank is ready to continue participating in the drafting of bylaws and in the licensing process for the wider crypto trading ecosystem. That places the lender among the institutions positioning themselves early for a more formalized domestic market structure.
Russia’s new legal framework
The planned launch is tied to a broader regulatory framework approved as part of the On Digital Currency and Digital Rights bill. Under that framework, crypto exchanges, brokers, custodians, and depositories are to be licensed and overseen by the Bank of Russia.
Licensed operators will appear on a special register. The framework also provides a two-year grace period for companies to obtain the required licenses, according to the report.
The same rules would place annual limits on digital asset purchases for non-qualified investors, while qualified investors would not face such caps. The article does not specify the size of those limits.
Limits on crypto use inside Russia
Even as Russia develops rules for trading infrastructure, the ruble remains the country’s only legal tender. The report notes that cryptocurrency still cannot be used for ordinary domestic purchases.
It adds that only narrow exceptions are предусмотрены under the framework, including uses tied to foreign trade, mining-related payments, and certain settlements. Those carve-outs suggest the state is trying to separate licensed investment and market infrastructure from the broader use of crypto as a means of payment inside the domestic economy.
The reported timeline gives Sberbank roughly until the end of 2026 to bring its depository and trading infrastructure into operation under the upcoming regime. Much will still depend on the final shape of the bylaws, the licensing process, and the implementation of Bank of Russia oversight as the new market architecture takes effect.
Source: Cryptopolitan