The Central Bank of Russia has announced plans to allow financial institutions to offer crypto-linked investment products to qualified investors, according to a statement of 28 May.
The Bank of Russia explained that it makes instruments such as derivatives, tokenized effects and other digital financial products possible to reflect that crypto price movements.
However, these offers must be non-delivery, which means that investors can only speculate about prices, but cannot receive or have digital assets.
The CBR emphasized that credit institutions must assume a conservative framework for risk assessment before these instruments are offered. The supervisor noticed the importance of protecting financial stability while the controlled exposure to crypto-linked products was investigated.
This development comes in the midst of Russia’s broader efforts to build a regulatory framework for digital assets.
Although the country has formalized rules for mining activities, regulations on exchanges and the broader use of cryptocurrencies remain in the making.
US Pro-Crypto Shift increases Russia’s ecosystem
The policy shift follows a significant increase in domestic crypto activity.
According to the latest financial stability review of the Central Bank, Crypto transaction volumes in Russia rose at the end of 2024 and early 2025 with more than 51% compared to previous quarters.
During that period, Russian users exchanged 7.3 trillion ruble to Crypto (around $ 92.9 billion) over major stock exchanges.
By the end of March 2025, Russian crypto users had more than 827 billion rubles ($ 10.5 billion) on crypto platforms. Bitcoin accounted for 62.1%of this value, followed by Ethereum at 22%, and Stablecoins such as USDT and USDC with 15.9%.
The central bank attributed the increase in growing global trust in digital assets. In particular, it called the recent urge of the United States after Crypto Regulation as an important engine of renewed market interests.
Under President Donald Trump, the American authorities have embraced a whole series of pro-crypto initiatives that would lead to the establishment of a national bitcoin reserve and the broader growth of the emerging industry.
The Central Bank of Russia, however, warned that increased regulations, especially around Stablecoins, could increase compliance risks. The APEX Bank noted that Russian companies can be confronted with extra pressure if the American issuers start blocking tokens that are linked to sanctioned entities.