Russia’s Finance Ministry and Central Bank are set to reveal a crypto exchange for “highly qualified” investors, reported the News Agency Interfax on Wednesday.
The exchange will “legalize crypto assets and bring crypto surgeries out of the shadows,” said Finance Minister Anton Siluanov during a ministry’s board meeting, according to the report.
“Of course, this will not happen domestic, but as part of the operations allowed under the experimental legal regime,” Siluanov said.
The Central Bank in Russia suggested to allow crypto trade within a pilot known as the experimental legal regime (ELR) in March.
This will apply to highly qualified investors, a new investor category for individuals whose investment exceeds 100 million rubles ($ 1.2 million) or an annual income exceeding 50 million rubles ($ 600,000).
The absence of a centralized domestic crypto exchange in Russia means that Russians depend on overseas trading platforms to buy and sell cryptocurrency, which the Ministry of Finance and the central bank may be trying to counteract.
The central bank has also proposed to give highly qualified investors access to derivatives and securities associated with digital assets that do not involve the supply of Crypto to the investor but emits returns based on its value.