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Russia’s Largest Private Bank Alfa-Bank To Test Bitcoin And Crypto Trading

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Russia’s Largest Private Bank Alfa-Bank To Test Bitcoin And Crypto Trading

Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private lender, is preparing to launch its own digital depository and a full slate of crypto services once national regulation takes effect, joining a widening race among Russian banks to capture a market that does not yet legally exist.

Dmitry Vitman, chief operating officer of Alfa-Bank’s corporate and investment business, told RBC Investments that the bank intends to offer “all possible services related to digital currencies” once the relevant legislation comes into force. 

“First and foremost, we plan to create our own digital depository and offer its services to other companies,” he said.

Under the framework expected to govern the market, a digital depository would record and store cryptocurrency and digital financial assets, monitor client transactions, and block transfers to addresses not sanctioned by authorities.

Firms that already hold a depository license would not need a separate license from the Central Bank to operate one.

Vitman said the market will develop gradually. Retail brokerage will come first, leaning on Russian and international infrastructure, with a possible launch in late 2026 or early 2027 if digital currency legislation enters into force in September 2026. 

Even so, he cautioned that meaningful liquidity and volume in Russia’s crypto market are unlikely to materialize before late 2027, a timeline that reflects both the untested regulatory machinery and the caution of institutions wary of moving before the rules are final.

The bank also wants to build Russian investment instruments on open blockchains capable of attracting foreign investors. 

“It’s important for Russia to develop its own instruments, otherwise we’ll have nothing to offer,” Vitman said. “We need to attract investors to our infrastructure, so we need to create products that can compete globally.”

A crowded field in Russia

Alfa-Bank is far from alone. T-Technologies Group, which controls T-Bank, has announced plans to launch a digital depository built on the Atomize digital financial asset platform and to sell crypto through its broker, T-Investments. 

VTB Bank likewise plans to create its own domestic digital depository for storing, recording, and circulating digital assets, including Bitcoin.

State-owned giant Sberbank is moving the fastest. The bank will launch a digital depository for storing and accounting crypto by December 1. Sberbank also plans to enable authorized crypto transactions inside its Sber app and SberInvestments, integrating custody directly into services that reach tens of millions of Russians.

When bitcoin and crypto trading could begin

The draft law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights” has passed its first reading in the State Duma, advancing a sweeping regime that defines crypto circulation rules and introduces new professional participants, including crypto exchanges and digital depositories.

Originally slated to take effect July 1, 2026, the law’s timeline has slipped, with the new expected in-force date set for September 1. 

Vladimir Chistyukhin, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, said the regulator expects all rules needed to launch legal crypto operations to be adopted and published by November, clearing the way for the first transactions. 

The Moscow Exchange expects to conduct its first crypto trades by the end of 2026.

US CBDC Ban to Go into Effect without Trump Signoff on Housing Bill

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US CBDC Ban to Go into Effect without Trump Signoff on Housing Bill

A bipartisan housing bill containing a ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States is set to become law as the deadline approaches for President Donald Trump to sign it.

Just after midnight on Friday, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will have been in Trump’s hands for 10 days, excluding Sundays, the maximum amount of time a bill can be on the president’s desk without a veto or a signature. Under the US Constitution, the legislation will automatically become law without action from Trump, who canceled the signing ceremony for the bill on Jun 24.

In a Friday social media post, Trump confirmed that he would not sign the housing bill, calling Republicans in Congress who voted on the legislation “dumb” and urging the Senate to instead prioritize a controversial voting bill, the SAVE America Act. The legislation, which would require people to provide proof of US citizenship in person to register, has received widespread criticism for claims that it would disenfranchise citizens already eligible to vote.

Source: Donald Trump

The housing bill, passed by the House of Representatives and Senate in June with support from Democrats and Republicans, included language barring the Federal Reserve from issuing or creating a CBDC “or any digital asset that is substantially similar” until Dec. 31, 2030. Many analysts saw the digital dollar ban as a political giveaway to gain Republican support. Trump did not address the CBDC ban in his Friday post.

Related: Trump backs CFTC authority over prediction markets

“[H]e’s refusing to sign the biggest housing bill in 30 years,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, who co-sponsored the bill, on Trump’s actions. “The good news: it’s going to become law anyway.”

Could Trump’s inaction also affect crypto market structure?

Although the US president said in May that he intended to “future-proof” digital asset regulations, his refusal to sign legislation unrelated to the SAVE America Act has raised questions about whether the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act under consideration in the Senate could face a similar situation as the housing bill.

The CLARITY Act, considered by many to be one of the most significant pieces of legislation affecting digital asset regulation, has already passed the House and two crucial Senate committees. Republican leaders in Congress expect that the bill will be heading to the full chamber for a floor vote in July once lawmakers return from state work periods on Monday.

Trump’s ties to the crypto industry have already complicated discussions between Democrats and Republicans over the market structure bill. The president disclosed earning more than $1.4 billion in income from his crypto ventures in 2025, including memecoins and the family’s World Liberty Financial platform.

Magazine: Crypto’s CLARITY Act faces partisan fight over ethics on Senate floor

Bitcoin A ‘Screaming Buy,’ Analyst Says, Keeps $100K Target

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Bitcoin A ‘Screaming Buy,’ Analyst Says, Keeps $100K Target

Standard Chartered maintained its end-2026 Bitcoin price forecast of $100,000 in a note to investors on Friday, arguing that the recent weakness reflects a failure by Strategy to explain a strategic shift rather than any deterioration in the company’s balance sheet.

Geoffrey Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, wrote that Strategy — the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, with 843,775 coins, more than 4% of the 21 million that will ever exist — “appears to be pivoting from its ‘never sell Bitcoin’ mantra to a more complex approach.” 

Clear communication of that pivot, he wrote, will determine how fast the pressure on BTC lifts.

Between 2020 and mid-2025, Strategy’s mNAV — enterprise value divided by the value of its Bitcoin — traded above 1.0. That premium lets the company issue shares, buy Bitcoin, and grow its value by more than the value of the new stock. Convincing the market it would never sell was the load-bearing part of the model.

With mNAV near 1.0, that arithmetic no longer works. Kendrick said Strategy is pivoting toward holding Bitcoin as backing for STRC, its perpetual preferred stock, which functions as a credit product.