Russia Draft Lets Retail Trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT
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- Bank of Russia published a draft directive on Aug. 11 letting non-qualified investors buy crypto through brokers, crypto exchanges, or managers, capped at 300,000 rubles per year per intermediary.
- The approved list for public exchange trading names exactly three tokens — Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Tether's USDT — filtered by market cap, average daily volume, and at least five years of pricing history on foreign platforms.
- XRP was excluded from the list despite seemingly meeting the criteria, a decision the article ties to past regulatory troubles from the since-settled SEC lawsuit against Ripple, which caused multiple delistings and relistings.
- Qualified investors face no caps and can access all cryptocurrencies on exchange and over-the-counter markets, though both investor classes must pass a mandatory risk test before trading.
- The directive takes effect 10 days after official publication, signed by Governor Elvira Nabiullina, with the Bank of Russia accepting public comments until Aug. 24.
- Tether approved the token for retail trading despite having frozen millions in USDT tied to sanctioned Russian exchanges — a contradiction the article flags without resolving.
Why it matters: Retail Russian investors gain access to a narrow three-coin crypto market (BTC, ETH, USDT) capped at roughly $3,000 per year per intermediary, while accredited investors trade without limits — a two-tier structure that concentrates opportunity among the wealthy. The Tether paradox is the story underneath the story: the central bank is greenlighting USDT for ordinary citizens while the issuer itself has been freezing USDT tied to sanctioned Russian exchanges.
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