The Bank of Russia announced on Wednesday that cryptocurrency exchanges may begin organized trading in digital assets on Nov. 22, provided the central bank has first approved their trading rules — a regulatory step that arrives just ahead of Moscow Exchange's planned Dec. 1 bitcoin launch.

The ordinance, which amends the central bank's rules for organized trading, was registered by the Justice Ministry on Nov. 3 and published Wednesday on the regulator's website. It takes effect 10 days after publication, on Nov. 22.

Under the new framework, exchanges must register the brokers, trust managers and central counterparties that take part in crypto transactions, maintain registers of orders and executed deals, and monitor trading activity. Venues must also calculate a current price, a weighted-average price, a market price and a closing price, and report trading activity to the central bank in the same way they already do for other assets.

The regulator was explicit about the sequence of events. Exchanges may open crypto markets from Nov. 22, it said, “but first they must agree with the regulator on the rules for conducting such trading.” The Bank of Russia did not say whether any venue has already cleared that review.

Who Can Buy, and What

A separate ordinance, published Nov. 6 and set to take effect Nov. 17, defines what ordinary buyers can purchase. The central bank approved bitcoin, ether and Tether's USDT for acquisition by non-qualified investors, and said exchanges may admit those assets to public trading from that date.

The dates stack into a tight sequence: public trading of the approved tokens can begin Nov. 17, organized trading in digital assets becomes possible Nov. 22, and Moscow Exchange plans its first trades Dec. 1.

Non-qualified investors will be able to buy through a broker, a trust manager or a registered crypto exchange office, either on an exchange or over the counter. Purchases through a single intermediary may not exceed 300,000 rubles per year — roughly $3,600 at the official exchange rate. Qualified investors can access all cryptoassets with no purchase cap.

Both groups must still pass a knowledge test and read a risk disclosure before they can trade. The approved list is limited to the most liquid assets that satisfy the law's tests for market capitalization, average daily volume and at least five years of pricing history on foreign exchanges.

Together, the two ordinances fill in the operational layer the September law left to the central bank: one defines what retail money can buy, the other how venues must run and report the markets.

Moscow Exchange Still Targets Dec. 1

Moscow Exchange, Russia's largest trading venue, announced on Nov. 2 that it plans to offer bitcoin, ether and USDT trading from Dec. 1, initially as a pilot while participants connect. Trading would run on the exchange's existing stock-market systems from 6:50 a.m. to 11:50 p.m. Moscow time, with the National Clearing Centre clearing the deals and clients able to settle the same day or the next.

Bitcoin Magazine reported the Dec. 1 plan last week, including the U.S. sanctions that already cover the exchange and its clearing house. Boris Blokhin, a senior managing director at the exchange, said in early October that Moscow Exchange would not need additional licenses to start and would use a partner settlement digital depository. Wednesday's notice still requires the central bank to sign off on the trading rules themselves, and the exchange has not said publicly whether that approval is already in hand.

SPB Exchange, the St. Petersburg venue, has said it wants to start organized crypto trading by the end of the year and is building a settlement digital depository of its own, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported in October.

The market rests on Federal Law No. 282-FZ, “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights,” whose main provisions took effect on Sept. 1. The law licenses exchanges, brokers, managers, depositories and exchangers, recognizes crypto as property and opens a supervised channel for cross-border trade. It still bans the use of cryptocurrency to pay for goods and services inside Russia. Officials have spent the fall building out the remaining infrastructure, including a self-regulatory body for crypto exchanges and digital depositories.

The open question is no longer whether Russia will have a legal exchange market for bitcoin, but when the first venue actually opens — and whether a 300,000-ruble retail cap is enough to pull traders away from the offshore desks they already use.

This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and was written by Micah Zimmerman.