Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has started testing cryptocurrency operations inside its Sberbank Online mobile app. The bank is preparing a service that will let retail customers buy, sell, deposit and withdraw digital assets. It plans to open the service to all clients on December 1, 2026, provided the central bank’s supporting rules are in force by then.
What Sberbank Is Testing
The bank’s press service told Vedomosti on October 8 that operations with Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), the stablecoin Tether (USDT) and other popular crypto assets are available during the testing stage. A stablecoin is a token designed to hold a steady value, and USDT tracks the US dollar.
Sberbank showed how the retail service will work at the SberInvestments investor forum “Nastoyashcheye Budushcheye” (roughly, “The Present Is the Future”). According to the bank’s statement carried by Gazeta, the same operations will also become available in SberInvestments, its brokerage app, and SberBusiness, its platform for corporate clients.
The bank added two conditions. The final list of cryptocurrencies admitted to trading will be set by subordinate acts of the Bank of Russia. Subordinate acts are the detailed regulations the central bank issues under a law. The exact launch date will also depend on when those acts take effect, RIA Novosti reported. For now, the operations are open only to participants in the experiment.
Why the Digital Depository Status Matters
On 6 October, Sberbank became the first company in Russia entered into the Bank of Russia register of digital depositories. A digital depository is a licensed institution that records who owns digital currencies and digital rights and handles their transfer. In practice, it works like a regulated custodian for crypto. The central bank began admitting the first companies to its new crypto registers from that date. VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, was also among the first depositories admitted.
The entry bar is high. Under central bank rules that took effect on October 5, 2026, digital depositories need minimum equity of 50 million to 250 million rubles, depending on the type of activity. Crypto exchange operators need 15 million rubles.
A Timeline Sberbank Set in July
The December date is not new. On July 6, First Deputy Chairman Kirill Tsarev told RBC Investments that Sberbank would launch a crypto wallet, first in Sberbank Online and SberInvestments, within months of the new law taking effect. He also said the bank’s crypto depository would be ready by December 1, 2026. Today’s test is the first confirmed move of live operations into the main retail app.
The Rules Russian Retail Investors Will Face
Russia’s law “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights” was signed on August 4, 2026 as Federal Law No. 282-FZ. According to the Bank of Russia, its core provisions took effect on September 1, 2026. Key rules include:
- Non-qualified investors (ordinary retail investors) can buy only the most liquid cryptocurrencies, must first pass a test, and are limited to 300,000 rubles a year per intermediary.
- Qualified investors, who meet wealth or experience thresholds, must also pass a test but can buy any cryptocurrency with no amount limit.
- Transition period: Market participants have until July 1, 2027 to comply.
The law also keeps the ban on using crypto to pay for goods and services inside Russia. It does allow transfers to non-custodial wallets, meaning wallets where users hold their own keys. Transfers above 100,000 rubles face a 48-hour cooling-off period.
Regional Context: Russian Banks Race for Crypto Clients
Sberbank is not alone. Alfa-Bank has started testing crypto trading in its Alfa-Investments app, and T-Bank and VTB have announced plans to connect clients to crypto trading. The framework sends all legal retail activity through licensed intermediaries, so Russia’s biggest banks are competing to become the default access point in the country’s new regulated crypto market.
The bank’s own research arm has sized the opportunity. In an interview with TASS, Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov cited SberCIB Investment Research estimates. Based on Finance Ministry data, Russians transact about 50 billion rubles in crypto daily, or roughly 18 trillion rubles a year. The analysts expect about 20% of that, or 3.5 trillion to 4 trillion rubles, to move onto exchanges in the first year. They see the figure rising to 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029. Popov called the estimate conservative, since a large share of activity is expected to stay with crypto exchangers.
Sberbank has also built experience with crypto as collateral through an earlier pilot loan secured by cryptocurrency, issued to mining company Intelion Data.
What It Means: Benefits and Limits
Potential benefits
- Familiar access: Clients can hold crypto inside an app they already use, with standard identity checks and central bank supervision.
- Legal channel: Activity that previously ran through informal exchangers and peer-to-peer platforms can move into a regulated system.
- Withdrawals: Customers can move assets out, so they are not locked into the bank’s custody.
Limits and risks
- Purchase cap: The 300,000 ruble annual limit per intermediary restricts how much ordinary investors can buy.
- Asset list: The final list may be narrower than the assets shown in testing, since the Bank of Russia decides what retail clients can trade.
- Volatility: Bitcoin and Ether remain highly volatile, and buyers carry full price risk.
- Monitoring: Every transaction through a bank is identified and reported, which reduces privacy compared with self-custody.
What to Watch Next
The key date is December 1. Before then, the market will look for the Bank of Russia’s final list of tradable assets and Sberbank’s fees, limits and client requirements. If the subordinate acts arrive on time, Russia’s largest lender could become the main gateway to crypto for millions of retail customers.
Also Read: Greece Lowers Proposed Crypto Tax Rate to 10% in Public Consultation
