Russia to test crypto trading on Moscow Exchange

The finance ministry of Russia views the Moscow Exchange as a key player in the country’s experimental crypto market, according to comments made by one of the department’s top officials. Financial authorities in the Russian Federation are considering whether to admit more participants to the trials.

Russia’s Ministry of Finance (Minfin) expects the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) to be a major participant in a cryptocurrency trading experiment, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov unveiled on the sidelines of the Crypto Summit 2025 forum, held in the Russian capital this week.

Russia to utilize existing exchange infrastructure for crypto trading trials

Speaking to reporters covering the industry event, Chebeskov said that the main proposal during the preparations for the trials was to employ the existing exchange infrastructure in Russia to trade cryptocurrencies.

“We have large exchanges, the Moscow Exchange, first of all, which, as I said, could handle this functionality without problems. It’s the same trading, just a different instrument,” he elaborated, quoted by the official Tass news agency.

Facilitating crypto trading operations would not be a difficult task for any exchange platform in the Russian Federation, the deputy minister is convinced. “Therefore, we are considering them, I would say, first of all as participants,” he added.

Finance ministry mulls adding more participants to crypto exchange experiment

The Minfin official further noted that the question of whether to expand the trials to engage multiple participants or even establish new entities for that purpose remains a difficult one “because here we need to evaluate the pros and cons.”

“On the one hand, this is also a kind of competition and an opportunity to see how different participants will do. On the other, this is a dilution of liquidity, more administration,” he pondered and emphasized: “This is still an experiment, not a full-fledged regulation. For now, we say that this is an experiment.”

While Russia has been interested in employing digital assets for international settlements, with reports claiming it’s already using cryptocurrencies to bypass sanctions in trade, financial authorities in Moscow have remained wary of permitting their free circulation inside the country.

Russia moves forward with plans to use crypto in foreign trade

Earlier in March, Chebeskov’s colleague, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Yakovlev, told the Russian business news portal RBC that the Minfin is considering the launching of “organized trading” of digital currencies in the country within the framework of the recently established “experimental legal regime” (ELR).

The ELR was introduced with a law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in August in order to legalize the “use of cryptocurrencies in foreign economic activity.” The new legislation also allows for the exchange trading of such assets under the strict control of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR).

Yakovlev stressed that only “highly qualified” investors would have access to such trading. “Not necessarily banks; this is more about professional participants,” the official added, stressing that the ministry is focused on preventing risks for the financial system, monetary policy and security of Russia.

Later this month, the CBR confirmed this new category of market participants, announcing that citizens will be able to obtain the status of “highly qualified investors” only if they have invested more than 100 million rubles (almost $1.2 million) in securities and deposits or if their annual income exceeded 50 million rubles in the past year.

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