Sanctioned Moscow Exchange Set to List Bitcoin, Ether, USDT on Dec 1

This week, Moscow Exchange, the biggest trading venue in Russia, said it would start trading bitcoin, ether, and Tether's USDT on December 1. The exchange described the move as the nation's first regulated market for digital assets.

With this launch, bitcoin will appear on the same platforms where Russians already trade Sberbank and Gazprom shares. The move also places a significant cryptocurrency marketplace within an entity currently under U.S. sanctions. The initial stage will be a pilot. Participants can join when ready, and the exchange noted that existing members, their clients, and businesses already using digital currencies for investing and payments have expressed interest.

How the Moscow market will work

According to the exchange's statement to the Russian newspaper Vedomosti, trading will use the same technology as the exchange's stock market and will follow the same hours, from 6:50 a.m. to 11:50 p.m. Moscow time. The National Clearing Centre, which handles clearing for the exchange, will clear each trade.

Starting on day one, clients will have the option to settle trades on the same day or the following day. The exchange will also provide swaps to help participants manage liquidity. BTC, ETH, and USDT will be tradable in both addressed and addressless forms, and the lineup is expected to expand over time to include Russian and international instruments.

Custody will be handled by partner digital depositaries, a new category of institution established under Russian regulations. A senior official at Moscow Exchange first outlined the plan on October 31.

Retail investor access is restricted. Non-qualified investors need to pass a test before buying, and they can only purchase up to 300,000 rubles of digital currency per year (about $3,700) through a single broker. Qualified investors have no such limit. The exchange had previously signaled the plan.

In June 2024, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Moscow Exchange and the National Clearing Centre as part of wider measures against Russia's financial system due to the Ukraine war. Consequently, the clearing house that holds customers' USDT is a sanctioned entity.

Tether regularly freezes wallets linked to addresses on the Treasury's sanctions list. This has raised questions about how the stablecoin issuer would handle USDT held via the Moscow clearing structure. Neither the exchange nor Tether has commented publicly on the matter.

Selecting USDT, a token pegged to the dollar, is noteworthy for a market partly designed to function outside the dollar system. Bitcoin and ether have no issuer capable of freezing balances.

Pulling offshore activity home

The market is based on Federal Law No. 282-FZ, “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights,” with its key provisions coming into force on September 1. The legislation still prohibits crypto for domestic payments, but exporters and importers may use it for cross-border trade settlements.

Over the past year, Russian officials have been developing the infrastructure. Last month, lawmakers gave securities regulators authority over crypto, and the central bank granted Sberbank a license for crypto operations a few weeks prior.

The objective is to shift trading that Russians currently conduct on offshore exchanges and peer-to-peer platforms onto domestic, regulated channels where the government can monitor and tax it. Moscow is wagering that a familiar exchange, connected to brokers Russian investors already use, can attract that volume back.

It remains unclear whether the caps and testing requirements will keep retail traders offshore, and whether any foreign liquidity will engage with a sanctioned venue. For the time being, Russia's first regulated bitcoin market launches on December 1, as a pilot with a modest limit.