The Russian Treasury Ministry and the central bank are planning to announce a crypto exchange with “highly recognized” investors, news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday.
The exchange “legalizes crypto assets and removes crypto operations from the shadows,” Finance Minister Anton Silanov said.
“Of course, this will happen not in the country, but as part of a tactic permitted under an experimental legal system,” Silanov said.
The Russian Central Bank proposed in March to allow crypto transactions within a pilot known as the Experimental Legal Regime (ELR).
This applies to new investor categories for individuals with investments of more than 100 million rubles ($1.2 million), or annual income of more than 50 million rubles ($600,000).
The lack of centralized domestic crypto exchanges in Russia means that Russians rely on overseas trading platforms to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
The central bank also proposes to enable highly qualified investors to access derivatives and securities linked to digital assets.