Moscow Exchange reconfirms 1 Dec launch of BTC, ETH, USDT trading

Moscow Exchange (MOEX) plans to start organized trading in Bitcoin, Ether and Tether's USDT on 1 December 2026, according to senior executive Boris Blokhin. The date is a reconfirmation, not a new disclosure. The launch follows Russia's new crypto law and offers limited access to non-qualified investors, but the venue is sanctioned and one commentator doubts demand.

Date reconfirmed

RIA Novosti reported on 31 October that Blokhin, MOEX's senior managing director for sales and business development, spoke at the Smartlab conference. He said clients are already testing in the exchange's environment. Supervisory board chair Sergey Shvetsov gave the same target on 16 September, and Blokhin repeated it on 8 October at the SberInvest "Real Future" forum. Cointelegraph reported on 3 November that MOEX plans the launch, which it describes as Russia's first organized digital currency market. It remains a plan as of 3 November; the 1 December start is not yet confirmed.

What will trade, and how

The initial assets are Bitcoin, Ether and USDT. Blokhin said they were chosen because they meet the Bank of Russia's requirements for access by non-qualified investors. Trading will run on MOEX's existing stock-market infrastructure.

Participants are creating digital depositaries under the new regulation. Storage and accounting of the crypto will go through those depositaries. Blokhin also said on 8 October that MOEX does not need to be added to any additional registers to begin these trades (per Coinspot).

Per RBC, as reported by Ridus, trading is planned across morning, main and evening sessions, 06:50–23:50 Moscow time. Participants are also expected to be able to do swap operations. Blokhin said that on the stock market comparable needs are usually met with repo operations, and on the currency market with swaps.

Who can trade

Non-qualified investors must pass a digital-asset test. Bloomingbit, summarizing Cointelegraph, reports an annual purchase cap of 300,000 rubles per intermediary. That figure is unconfirmed by any regulator or MOEX page we could open. Cointelegraph itself refers only to annual purchase limits.

The law's main provisions took effect on 1 September. It permits regulated trading but keeps the ban on using crypto to pay for goods and services in Russia.

Sanctions and the demand question

Per Cointelegraph, MOEX and its clearing arm, the NCC, have been under US sanctions since June 2024. Per Cointelegraph, the UK also sanctioned the exchange then, and the EU added it to its list in July 2026; we did not check official sanctions registers.

Sergey Mendeleev, founder of cross-border payments platform Exved, told Cointelegraph he doubted the market would draw significant demand. He said: "Neither the global nor the local market will notice anything at all." Per Cointelegraph, the UK sanctioned Mendeleev on 26 May.

Market context

On 3 November, DefiLlama data showed Bitcoin at $77,253.77 with a market cap of $1.55 trillion. Ether traded at $2,283.08 (market cap $279.26 billion), and USDT at $0.9985 (market cap $178.88 billion). USDT is the largest stablecoin, with $178.78 billion in supply, 60.3% of the $296.52 billion total.

What to watch

The open questions are whether 1 December holds and whether MOEX or the Bank of Russia publish official confirmation. This brief relies on Russian wire-based reports and secondary crypto outlets, not a moex.com release.

Sources

• NANGS: Moscow Exchange plans to launch trading in three cryptocurrencies from 1 December (RIA Novosti wire)
• Cointelegraph: Moscow Exchange Bitcoin, Ether, USDT trading in December
• Mail.ru Finance: MOEX names available coins and trading hours
• Coinspot: Moscow Exchange crypto trading launch
• Bloomingbit: summary of Cointelegraph report
• DefiLlama via CoinGecko: Bitcoin market data
• DefiLlama Stablecoins
• TKS: Moscow Exchange plans to launch Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT trading from 1 December