Cryptocurrency is ceasing to be an isolated financial dimension. In Russia, this process is taking on concrete legislative shape: starting September 1, 2026, brokers and management companies will officially be able to act as intermediaries in transactions with digital assets. This is a fundamental shift that will reshape the familiar model of market access.
Previously, an investor had to independently build a complex chain: open an account on a crypto exchange, resolve issues with fiat transfers, ensure asset custody, and bear the tax burden. The new reality radically simplifies this path. Buying bitcoin will become as routine an operation as purchasing stocks or bonds—right in the interface of a familiar brokerage app.
The infrastructure is ready, only a bridge is needed
The key point I highlight in this initiative: brokers will not need to build their own crypto exchange. They already have the main assets—a client base, funds in accounts, verification (KYC), a polished user interface, and a reporting system. Only the final link is missing: liquidity and custodial storage.
The most logical model is partnership. A client buys BTC in a familiar app, while a specialized crypto partner handles trade execution, liquidity provision, and storage. This scheme has already proven its viability globally—for example, at Interactive Brokers, where Paxos and Zero Hash perform this function. For a broker, this approach is significantly faster and cheaper than building full-fledged exchange infrastructure from scratch.
A new client and market segmentation
The emergence of a brokerage channel will attract a fundamentally different type of investor to the market. This is not about a hardcore trader, but about a conservative client who views bitcoin or ether as 5–15% of a diversified portfolio. For them, the broker's value lies not in the number of tokens, but in the ability to integrate cryptocurrency into a unified investment logic: rebalancing, risk management, and using assets as collateral. The Bank of Russia is already working on the regulatory framework in this direction.
At the same time, specialized crypto exchanges will not disappear. Active traders who need perpetual futures, hundreds of altcoins, or DeFi instruments will remain on specialized platforms. The market will split: the mass investor will move to brokers, while the professional core will remain loyal to specialized platforms.
The main competitive advantage in the new paradigm will be neither the fee nor the range of coins, but the simplicity of access. The ability to sell some bonds and buy BTC in one app, without switching to another financial ecosystem, will prove to be the decisive factor for millions of investors.
My conclusion: the arrival of brokers is not just a new sales channel, but a shift in the market's demographic structure. Instead of hunting for the "next token," we will witness an influx of capital from those who previously did not even consider cryptocurrency as an asset class. This could become a more powerful growth driver than any hyped altcoin.