Russia’s central bank has added Sberbank to its register of organizations authorized to exchange digital currencies, according to reports.

The move follows Sberbank’s addition earlier this month to the list of digital depositories authorized to record cryptocurrencies and digital rights. Sberbank now joins eight other organizations on the exchange register, including state-controlled VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, and T-Invest Lab, a unit of T-Technologies, which also owns online lender T-Bank, according to a Monday Interfax report. The make-up of the register offers a snapshot of which Russian financial institutions are cleared to provide cryptocurrency exchange services under the new regime.

The authorization comes as Russia advances its regulatory framework for Bitcoin and other digital assets. Last month, Sberbank said it had become the first institution in the country approved to provide bitcoin custody services. The Bank of Russia authorized the bank to conduct “digital currency record-keeping” and facilitate the transfer of such assets, including bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. With the exchange registration, Sberbank is now authorized for both functions at the heart of the new market: keeping the records of who owns digital currencies and exchanging the assets themselves.

“This status will allow the bank to provide services related to organizing the circulation of digital currency on interfaces which clients already use,” Sberbank was quoted as saying in the report.

A law covering digital currencies and digital rights took effect in Russia on September 1, establishing a legal framework for cryptocurrency circulation. Under the framework, cryptocurrency transactions can be conducted through the existing infrastructure of exchanges, brokers and trustees, as well as through crypto exchanges and digital depositories. Cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold on crypto exchanges, while rights to the assets are recorded in digital depositories. The central bank’s registers attach names to those roles, indicating which organizations can perform which functions as the newly licensed market takes shape.

Banks and other organizations have been able to apply to the Central Bank of Russia, or CBR, for the relevant licenses since October 5. Some existing market participants have access to a simplified process and can obtain licenses on a notification basis within one day.

Under the new rules, unqualified investors will be able to purchase bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including stablecoins, through a single intermediary, subject to an annual limit of 300,000 rubles ($3,556). Qualified investors will have access to all cryptocurrencies traded on exchange and over-the-counter markets.

Sberbank is scheduled to launch its crypto wallet in December, the same month that the Moscow Exchange is scheduled to begin crypto trading. That clustering gives the market two near-term milestones to watch as the framework moves from licensing into live services.

The original article was published by Bitcoin Magazine and written by Mathew Di Salvo.