Russia’s Central Bank approves Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT for exchange trading — with limits for retail investors

Russia's Central Bank has recently approved Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether (USDT) for exchange trading, with certain restrictions for retail investors. Nonqualified investors can only trade in the most liquid cryptocurrencies, with an annual limit of 300,000 rubles' worth per intermediary. Qualified investors, however, have no such restrictions, being able to buy any cryptocurrency traded on the exchanges.

Prior to these approvals, a law legalizing cryptocurrency circulation in Russia was passed in July, setting rules for its use and capping the size of nonqualified investors' portfolios. The Central Bank had previously stated that only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT met the criteria for exchange trading. This story was penned by a Meduza journalist and translated from Russian using an AI model, with an additional review by a Meduza editor before publication.