Moscow Exchange Opens Bitcoin Futures to Select Investors

Russia is entering the cryptocurrency derivatives market, as the Moscow Stock Exchange kicked off bitcoin futures trading on June 4, limited exclusively to “highly qualified” investors. This move comes as Russia cautiously experiments with crypto-related financial instruments, amid ongoing regulatory uncertainty. These new contracts are linked to Blackrock’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), settled in rubles but valued in U.S. dollars, avoiding direct crypto handling. The St. Petersburg Stock Exchange is also testing futures linked to digital assets. Bitcoin, though legally ownable in Russia, lacks authorized platforms for circulation and remains outside the central bank’s definition of legal tender. Nevertheless, crypto remains popular: by late 2024, individual Russians held roughly 2 trillion rubles in digital assets.