The Bank of Russia's registries have undergone a rapid transformation over the past month: whereas at the beginning of October, when the first lists were published, they contained only nine companies, they now list eight digital depositories and more than twenty cryptocurrency exchange operators — in total, over 28 market participants.
The new data was disclosed by Kirill Pronin, Director of the regulator's Financial Market Infrastructure Department, on the sidelines of Cryptosummit. Over the month, the composition of the registries has grown more than threefold, signaling the crypto industry's rapid integration into the regulated perimeter.
How the composition of the registries has changed over the month
The first admitted participants appeared at the beginning of October. At that time, five companies, including VTB and Sberbank, received digital depository status, while four organizations, including T-Invest Lab, became crypto exchanges. Since then, the number of depositories has grown to eight, and exchange operators have increased more than fivefold.
The distinction between the two types of participants is extremely clear. Depositories keep records of digital currencies and formalize their transfer between owners. Exchange operators buy and sell cryptocurrency in their own name outside an exchange.
All companies are entered into the registries under the transitional provisions of the law "On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights," which came into force on September 1. Participants are required to bring their businesses fully into compliance with its requirements by September 1, 2027.
How many more companies will receive licenses
The Central Bank did not provide an exact forecast. Pronin noted that he could not say how many more existing market participants would go through the procedure. At the same time, he recalled that all the largest players, even at the stage of drafting the law, showed interest in this area in one form or another and considered obtaining a license for themselves.
For investors, the registries have become a working verification tool. The regulator's website publishes the name, details, contacts, and date of authorization for each company. Transactions through those not on the lists remain outside the legal framework.
Cryptalist analysis: Such rapid growth — more than threefold in a month — in the registries indicates that large financial institutions view the regulated crypto perimeter as a strategic direction rather than an experiment. The dominance of banking structures among digital depositories creates the basis for an institutional inflow of capital, while the exchange operator segment remains more fragmented. Until September 2027, the market will undergo consolidation, and companies outside the registries risk losing access to the legal client base.