Russia’s central bank is proposing to limit retail cryptocurrency trading on regulated platforms to Bitcoin, Ether and USDT, with Tether’s dollar-pegged token becoming the only stablecoin included in the initial approved list.
The draft framework would impose an annual crypto purchase ceiling of 300,000 rubles, or about $3,600, on non-qualified investors when trading through each individual intermediary. Qualified investors would be exempt from the restriction.
The proposed whitelist follows legislation approved in July that is expected to establish regulated cryptocurrency trading in Russia starting Sept. 1. The earlier legislation authorized the framework but did not identify which digital assets retail investors would be permitted to purchase. Crypto payments for goods and services inside Russia would remain banned.
The structure of the proposed limit could also allow investors to build larger positions than the headline figure suggests. Since the 300,000-ruble threshold applies to each intermediary rather than an investor’s combined activity, a retail participant could potentially spread purchases across several brokers or exchanges.
This could result in a higher overall exposure to cryptocurrencies despite the individual intermediary limits.
