Moscow Exchange to list BTC and ETH perpetuals in September as Russia's digital currency law lands

The Moscow Exchange plans to add perpetual futures on bitcoin and ethereum to its crypto derivatives lineup in September, according to Maria Patrikeeva, managing director of the exchange's derivatives unit, quoted by Interfax: "In September, we will launch the first two perpetual futures on the Bitcoin and Ethereum indices." ^[1][2][3] The timing is the point: most provisions of the law On Digital Currency and Digital Rights, adopted by both houses of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin this summer, take effect on September 1 ^[9].

This is an extension, not a debut. MOEX has offered professional investors monthly and quarterly crypto futures since last summer, including contracts referencing Solana, Ripple and Tron ^[4], and began trading crypto derivatives shortly after the Central Bank of Russia authorised financial firms to offer them in May 2025, among the first domestic institutions to do so alongside Sber ^[6]. Perpetuals are overnight contracts with no fixed expiry, rolled automatically into the next trading day ^[5]. What changes for a position holder is roll mechanics and margin management, not the underlying exposure.

The regulatory frame is narrower than the product roadmap suggests. Patrikeeva said the exchange wants to expand the line and eventually take the number of coins to 10 ^[3], but in August the Bank of Russia approved only bitcoin, ethereum and Tether's USDT for public trading as the assets meeting its criteria ^[12], with retail access restricted to the most liquid, capitalised and globally traded cryptocurrencies ^[13]. The two September contracts therefore cover both non-stablecoin names on that list ^[18]. Access widens too: the central bank initially allowed only "highly qualified" investors to trade digital assets and their derivatives ^[11], while the new law admits non-qualified investors subject to an annual cap of 300,000 rubles per intermediary, put at around $3,500 ^[10], an implied rate of roughly 86 rubles to the dollar ^[17].

Both MOEX and Sber are under Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine, which sharply limit their access to global financial infrastructure ^[7], and Russian state-controlled and private entities are believed to have used crypto to work around fiat restrictions and keep trading internationally ^[8]. That is the context, not evidence of a shift. Cryptopolitan's report contains no volumes, no open interest and no data on flows moving from offshore venues to Moscow, and MOEX has still not said when it will begin trading cryptocurrencies themselves, as the Russian outlet Bits.media noted ^[16]. Domestic sanctioned exposure is being given a regulated wrapper; whether it displaces anything offshore is unmeasured here.

The derivatives desk is running a volume strategy. It has presented 34 new instruments since the start of the year and wants to launch almost as many again by the end of 2026 ^[15], including perpetual futures on roughly 20 foreign stocks such as Amazon, AMD, Tesla and Netflix ^[14].

Watch three things: whether the crypto perpetuals are opened to non-qualified investors under the 300,000-ruble cap ^[10] or ring-fenced for professionals as the earlier contracts were ^[4][11]; how MOEX gets to 10 coins when the central bank has cleared three assets ^[3][12]; and the spot listing date, which remains unannounced ^[16].