VTB Bank, Russia’s second-largest lender by assets, plans to begin offering spot cryptocurrency trading to qualified investors next year, becoming the first institution in the country to allow its clients to trade directly and on deliverables for major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. and ether according to Russian media RBU.
The facility will be offered to investors with portfolios above $1.3 million or annual income above $650,000, Andrey Yatskov, head of brokerage services at VTB, said in an interview with RBU.
“Preparations are already underway for ‘superqualified’ investors to be tested, but it is clear that this status will not become widespread.” he said.
Russia, like Iran and Venezuela, is increasingly turning to crypto to circumvent Western sanctions on its $192 billion-a-year oil trade with China and India in 2023 and 2024. Oil and gas make up 30% of Russia’s federal market. Once strongly opposed to digital assets, Russia is turning to crypto to circumvent Western sanctions in oil trading: Reuters, which included a nationwide ban on crypto, the country has begun to move closer to virtual currencies as the United States and the European Union began imposing new rounds of escalating sanctions against the country in 2022.
Still, Yatskov dismissed speculation that the appetite for crypto is growing among the general population.
“No, we don’t expect that,” he replied.
According to an October report from the Tass news service, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said that around 20 million Russians use crypto “for various purposes,” describing them as a reality that the government must address rather than resist. The country has around 146 million inhabitants.
In response to the growing use of crypto, Vladimir Chistyukhin, first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, said in October that the regulator had decided to allow banks to operate in the crypto sector for the first time.
VTB, which has a market value of nearly $250 billion and total assets exceeding $410 billion, said its customers’ interest in crypto assets is high, reflecting a global trend.
“That is why, based on this position, we will also participate in the process,” Yatskov said.
The bank joins a small group of lenders around the world offering crypto transactions to their customers. Standard Chartered in July became the first global bank to offer spot trading of bitcoin and ether to institutional clients. Spanish rivals BBVA and Santander also began offering spot crypto exchanges this year. Liechtenstein-based Bank Frick began offering its customers access to several cryptocurrencies as early as 2018. And DBS Bank of Singapore is also said to offer this service.
