MOSCOW EXCHANGE PLANS A BITCOIN MARKET FOR DECEMBER 1 — 300,000 RUBLES A YEAR FOR NON-QUALIFIED BUYERS — CENTRAL BANK RULES BAR MOVES TO YOUR OWN WALLET

Moscow Exchange said on November 2, 2026 that it plans to open Russia’s first organized digital currency market on December 1. BTC, ETH and USDT will trade from 06:50 to 23:50 Moscow time, cleared through its National Clearing Centre, with same-day and next-day settlement. Buyers who are not qualified investors must pass a test and can spend no more than 300,000 rubles a year through one broker.

The release never mentions a wallet, and it does not name who holds the coins. A senior exchange executive said on October 31 that storage would run through partner digital depositories, Vedomosti reported. The Bank of Russia’s FAQ settles the rest. Moving digital currency from a digital account to your own non-custodial wallet is not permitted. Sending it to another person through depository addresses is not permitted. Direct deals between individuals stay legal only until July 1, 2027.

We reported those rules on October 15, 2026. December 1 gives them a market. Sergey Mendeleev, founder of the payments firm Exved, compared the offering to Sberbank’s precious metals accounts, where customers trade balances without taking the metal, Cointelegraph reported. He is under UK sanctions himself. Cointelegraph also reports the exchange has been under US sanctions since June 2024 and EU sanctions since July 2026.

The exchange calls the start a pilot, with participants joining as they are ready. The release gives no fees and no custody terms. A bitcoin held by its owner still moves when its key signs, and the law only decides whether signing is legal. A bitcoin bought on this market is a record at a depository, in an account the holder cannot empty into his own wallet. At the time of this writing, bitcoin was $77,592.