Sberbank readies crypto trading and custody for 110M users; draft rules cap retail buys, ban privacy coins

Sberbank has completed technical preparations to launch digital-asset custody and trading platforms for its roughly 110 million customers, but the services remain on hold pending regulatory approval in Russia ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

Senior Vice President Ruslan Vesterovsky said the bank is ready to offer cryptocurrency trading once regulation and organized exchange trading are introduced; he added that exchange-based trading could improve liquidity and tighten spreads and that existing financial infrastructure can support services such as margin trading and AI-driven investment strategies ^[4].

Draft regulatory measures reported alongside the bank’s preparations would limit retail (non‑qualified) investors to annual cryptocurrency purchases of about $4,000 and would prohibit privacy-focused coins including Monero, Zcash and Dash ^[2].

Sberbank’s rollout of crypto services is contingent on the passage of formal rules and the establishment of exchange trading in Russia, after which the bank says it is prepared to begin offering the products ^{[1] [4]}.