The Central Bank of Russia has officially allowed financial institutions to offer certain cryptocurrency-based financial instruments to qualified investors.
The Bank of Russia can now freely provide a range of crypto products to qualified investors, including crypto derivatives, securities, and other digital financial assets linked to crypto prices, the central bank announced on May 28.
However, a key stipulation is that these products must not involve "actual delivery of cryptocurrency," the Central Bank of Russia emphasized.
The announcement also revealed data from a report by the Central Bank of Russia, showing that the inflow of crypto assets for Russian residents increased by 51% in the first quarter of 2025, totaling 7.3 trillion rubles (approximately $81.5 billion).
Following the announcement from the Central Bank of Russia, several major Russian banks immediately began launching cryptocurrency investment products.
T-Bank (formerly Tinkoff Bank), one of Russia's largest commercial banks, announced on May 29 the launch of a digital financial asset (DFA) linked to Bitcoin (BTC).
"This tool allows you to invest in cryptocurrency in rubles through a familiar app—safely and within the legal framework of the Russian Federation, without the need to open an account on a crypto exchange or worry about the difficulties of protecting a wallet," the bank stated.
T-Bank's new "smart asset" product is issued through the state-supported tokenization platform Atomyze and is only available to qualified investors.
Despite approving local lending institutions to offer crypto products, the Central Bank of Russia maintains a restrictive stance on direct cryptocurrency investments.
The Central Bank of Russia stated, "The Central Bank of Russia still does not recommend financial institutions and their clients to invest directly in cryptocurrency."
The central bank also mentioned that the government is discussing a potential experimental regime that would allow certain investors to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin directly.
In the latest financial stability review, the Central Bank of Russia estimated that Russians hold 827 billion rubles (approximately $9.2 billion) in centralized exchanges (CEX).
According to the agency's data, Bitcoin accounts for 62% of the crypto holdings of Russians on CEX, followed by Ethereum (ETH) at 22%. Stablecoins like Tether USDt (USDT) and Circle's USDC (USDC) rank third, accounting for 15.9%.
Some local crypto enthusiasts have noted that the actual amount of cryptocurrency held by Russians is much larger than the CEX holdings estimated by the Central Bank of Russia.
Sergey Mendeleev, founder of the digital settlement exchange Exved, wrote on his Telegram channel, "I know the money in [Pavel] Durov and [Alexey] Bilyuchenko's wallets is more than this number." He implied that Russians hold significantly more crypto in wallets and decentralized exchanges.
Related: New York City Mayor Eric Adams calls for the issuance of municipal Bitcoin (BTC) bonds and proposes the elimination of the state-level BitLicense licensing system.
Original article: “Russia Allows Banks to Offer Crypto Products to Qualified Investors”
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