Russia has allowed retail investors to buy USDT? Verified, it's true, but details are below The Central Bank of Russia announced on November 6th (based on Law 282-FZ + Directive 7441-У, effective November 17th): Non-qualified investors can only buy three types of crypto assets—BTC, ETH, and USDT. Strict restrictions: · First, a testing phase is required. · Purchases can only be made through licensed intermediaries. · Each intermediary has an annual cap of 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,600). · Funds can only be held in custody; withdrawals to self-custodied wallets are prohibited. · Cryptocurrency payments are still prohibited domestically. The Moscow Exchange plans to begin a pilot program on December 1st. Why is Russia allowing this? 1️⃣ Bringing the massive P2P/OTC gray market under regulation 2️⃣ Taxation + anti-money laundering, making fund flows traceable 3️⃣ The need for dollar liquidity under sanctions; USDT is already the de facto standard for foreign trade settlements. 4️⃣ Treating it only as an investment product, not as a currency, preventing dollarization from impacting the ruble. 5️⃣ Choosing USDT because it has the best liquidity in Russia. Impact: · Symbolic significance for USDT > Actual incremental growth; retail investor allocation is very small. · The biggest risk is freezing: MOEX and its clearinghouse NCC are both on the OFAC sanctions list; Tether froze Garantex-related addresses last year. · USDC is not on the list; Circle cannot enter sanctioned markets, and there is no direct impact on CRCL. Conclusion: This is not Russia embracing dollar-denominated stablecoins, but rather "managing" the existing demand for USDT under sanctions.