Sberbank joins Russia's digital-currency exchange register
Sberbank joined the digital-currency exchange register on 12 October. December 1 is the bank's plan, not the regulator's date, and 11 firms are now listed.
Sberbank is on the Bank of Russia's register of organisations authorised to exchange digital currencies, and the right is narrower than a venue launch. Interfax reported on October 12, 2026 that the central bank had made the entry. The bank's regulator card dates the exchange right to October 12 and the digital-depository right to October 6. The admission page defines the activity as purchase and sale in the firm's own name and for its own account, off organised trading, with scope to support prices or volume on organised venues.
The bank told Interfax the status would let it "provide services related to organizing the circulation of digital currency on interfaces which clients already use," with first products planned for December 1. That date is the bank's. An October 6 Interfax report said December 1, 2026 depended on the application decision and on the regulatory acts being ready. The decision is done. Key acts are not. Filings opened on October 5, covered in the report on those three registers, under the framework that took effect on September 1.
What the October 14 files actually list
The exchange file of October 14, 2026, at 00:00 Moscow time, lists 11 active firms. October 6 brought VTB, T-Invest Lab, Zefir and Sistema-Crypto. October 8 added RNKO Finpilot and Professional Bank. October 9 added Moy Bitcoin and Khlynov Bank. October 12 added Sberbank and Paradise Technology. October 13 added ASPK. Interfax at 20:03 on October 12 counted eight others besides Sberbank, including VTB and T-Invest Lab. ASPK is later than that story. Without it, the file still shows nine others, not eight.
The depository file lists six, not the five Interfax described that evening: VTB, Sberbank, Voltari, Atomyze and Cloud Infrastructure from October 6, and TT, entered as ООО "ТТ", from October 12. Interfax still said five players, including VTB and Atomyze, with Sberbank added earlier in October. The October 6 date on Sberbank's regulator card matches. Only VTB and Sberbank are on both registers, VTB on each from October 6. T-Technologies, parent of T-Bank, said Atomyze and T-Invest Lab had the licences. Atomyze is depository-only. T-Invest Lab is exchange-only.
The October 6 release says firms must record transactions under the rules from inclusion and comply in full before September 1, 2027. Depositories keep the record and give clients the address identifiers. The navigator sets own funds for the exchange activity at 15 million rubles and gives credit organisations a review of one business day, the route Interfax said was open to some banks from October 5. Sberbank's depository right is dated the next day. The exchange right is dated October 12.
Vitaly Sergeichuk, deputy CEO at VTB, said in a statement quoted by Interfax: "We expect to open access to trading in digital currencies for a wide range of investors via VTB My Investments and directly via the bank's crypto exchange as early as November and December 2026 respectively." Olga Kim, head of VTB's depository, was quoted on work already done: "A stablecoin transaction was concluded with the broker's corporate clients."
That October 6 coin line is not Sberbank's product list. Interfax said non-qualified investors could buy only Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT), up to 300,000 rubles a year via one intermediary, while qualified investors had no such cap on exchange or over-the-counter coins. Instruction No. 7441-U of September 11, 2026, which covers the broker cap and the organised-trading list, was still at the Ministry of Justice on the cryptocurrency page on October 14. A FAQ entry updated October 12 says USDT reaches public organised trading only after 7441-U takes effect.
The same FAQ blocks the exit. Part 9 of article 31 of Federal Law No. 282-FZ of August 4, 2026 bars a transfer to a non-custodial wallet, and part 5 bars transfers between individuals on a depository's identifiers. Direct deals between individuals last only until July 1, 2027, when residents must use organisers of circulation. The pattern is crypto on an FNB share account that cannot leave, reached far faster than Deutsche Bank's custody licence, due 40 months after filing.
December 1 remains the product date Sberbank gave Interfax, with the application decided and 7441-U not in force. ASPK's October 13 entry left the previous day's headcount short within a day. The test is a named product on an interface clients already use, the coins the Bank of Russia has actually admitted, and whether the client can move the record to a wallet of their own.
This article is informational analysis only and is not financial, investment, or trading advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and can lose substantial value rapidly. Past performance and historical patterns do not guarantee future results. Do your own research and consult a regulated financial adviser before making any investment decision.
Reporting by Karthik Subramanian. Filed 14 October 2026, 08:39 GMT.
Digital Assets Correspondent
Karthik Subramanian is a founder, writer, and technology consultant with nine years in the crypto ecosystem.
