Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private lender, is preparing to launch its own digital depository and a full slate of crypto services once national regulation takes effect, joining a widening race among Russian banks to capture a market that does not yet legally exist.

Dmitry Vitman, chief operating officer of Alfa-Bank’s corporate and investment business, told RBC Investments that the bank intends to offer “all possible services related to digital currencies” once the relevant legislation comes into force. 

“First and foremost, we plan to create our own digital depository and offer its services to other companies,” he said.

Under the framework expected to govern the market, a digital depository would record and store cryptocurrency and digital financial assets, monitor client transactions, and block transfers to addresses not sanctioned by authorities.

Firms that already hold a depository license would not need a separate license from the Central Bank to operate one.

Vitman said the market will develop gradually. Retail brokerage will come first, leaning on Russian and international infrastructure, with a possible launch in late 2026 or early 2027 if digital currency legislation enters into force in September 2026. 

Even so, he cautioned that meaningful liquidity and volume in Russia’s crypto market are unlikely to materialize before late 2027, a timeline that reflects both the untested regulatory machinery and the caution of institutions wary of moving before the rules are final.

The bank also wants to build Russian investment instruments on open blockchains capable of attracting foreign investors. 

“It’s important for Russia to develop its own instruments, otherwise we’ll have nothing to offer,” Vitman said. “We need to attract investors to our infrastructure, so we need to create products that can compete globally.”

A crowded field in Russia

Alfa-Bank is far from alone. T-Technologies Group, which controls T-Bank, has announced plans to launch a digital depository built on the Atomize digital financial asset platform and to sell crypto through its broker, T-Investments. 

VTB Bank likewise plans to create its own domestic digital depository for storing, recording, and circulating digital assets, including Bitcoin.

State-owned giant Sberbank is moving the fastest. The bank will launch a digital depository for storing and accounting crypto by December 1. Sberbank also plans to enable authorized crypto transactions inside its Sber app and SberInvestments, integrating custody directly into services that reach tens of millions of Russians.

When bitcoin and crypto trading could begin

The draft law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights” has passed its first reading in the State Duma, advancing a sweeping regime that defines crypto circulation rules and introduces new professional participants, including crypto exchanges and digital depositories.

Originally slated to take effect July 1, 2026, the law’s timeline has slipped, with the new expected in-force date set for September 1. 

Vladimir Chistyukhin, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, said the regulator expects all rules needed to launch legal crypto operations to be adopted and published by November, clearing the way for the first transactions. 

The Moscow Exchange expects to conduct its first crypto trades by the end of 2026.