Russia's central bank approved NAUFOR, the National Association of Securities Market Participants, as the country's first self-regulatory organization for crypto exchanges and digital depositories on October 29.
The approval implements Russia's "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" law, which passed the State Duma in July. The law requires exchange operators and depositories to register with the central bank and join an SRO. Firms on those registries have 90 days to comply.
The central bank registry currently lists 23 crypto exchanges and eight digital depositories, including VTB, Sberbank, and units of T-Technologies. NAUFOR, which has operated since 1996 and counts 725 members from traditional markets, will write industry standards, monitor members, and represent the sector to regulators.
NAUFOR received the same status for information system operators earlier in October.
The law caps retail purchases at 300,000 rubles per year through a single intermediary, roughly $3,800. Qualified investors face higher limits. One reading of the framework allows a depository to restrict transfers to personal wallets.
The law bans domestic crypto payments but opens a state-supervised channel for cross-border trade. The Moscow Exchange tested cryptocurrency trading with professional market participants in the fall and planned to launch trading in December using existing infrastructure and a partner digital depository.