Russian brokers and banks line up to launch crypto derivatives

Financial institutions in Russia, from brokers and banks to stock exchanges, are announcing a number of offerings of crypto derivatives following the central bank’s decision to legalize the latter.

Some of the most prominent players in the country’s finance industry are entering the race to provide investors with a choice of options to put money into instruments, the yields of which are tied to the prices of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Finam offers crypto derivatives to Russian investors

One by one, financial firms in Russia are lining up to tap into a promising market set to emerge after the country’s monetary authority permitted the offering of a new class of products – derivatives linked to decentralized digital assets.

Finam, a well-established Russian broker since the early ‘90s, has joined the race. The company said it’s going to put out derivatives on leading cryptocurrencies, portfolios of several currencies, and products providing exposure to active algorithmic strategies.

The most popular cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), and others, will serve as base assets of Finam’s derivatives, the business daily Vedomosti reported on Sunday, quoting a representative of the investment firm.

The products will be offered only to “highly qualified investors,” as per the Bank of Russia’s circular from May 28. To be accepted as such, private individuals would have to prove investments in securities or deposits exceeding 100 million rubles ($1.25 million) and 50 million rubles in annual income, the regulator suggested earlier this year.

The instruments will help investors profit from both growing and declining crypto prices. Finam will develop tools allowing to obtain inverse profitability, an analogue of “shorts,” a representative of the brokerage explained.

It plans to launch four different crypto products, the business news portal RBC reported.

Sberbank issues structured bonds on Bitcoin

Russia’s banking and financial giant Sberbank (Sber) has already issued structured bonds, the yield of which is tied to the value of Bitcoin, Vedomosti noted in another article. Holders will be able to benefit from both the changing prices of the leading cryptocurrency in U.S. dollars and the potential strengthening of the American fiat against the Russian ruble.

Transactions with the bonds are carried out in local currency, under Russian law and using domestic infrastructure, a spokesperson told the newspaper. The securities will be listed on the Moscow Exchange, the largest stock exchange in the Russian Federation.

Sber, which is the largest Russian bank in terms of assets, also prepares to give clients access to other exchange-traded instruments providing exposure to cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin futures. These will be available through its Sberinvestments mobile app, the bank official unveiled.

Another majority state-owned bank, VTB, announced it’s going to offer qualified investors access to the new crypto-linked structured bonds, too. Two Russian commercial banks, T-Bank and Alfa-Bank, said they have developed Bitcoin-based digital financial assets (DFAs).

Alexey Ilyasov, chief executive of Russian asset tokenization platform Atomize, and T-Bank’s partner in the DFA project, was quoted by Kommersant as stating:

“More and more investors, from active traders and private banking clients to legal entities, are considering adding a reasonable amount of cryptocurrencies to their portfolio, including for the purposes of diversification and risk hedging.”

Russian exchanges to begin trading Bitcoin futures

Shortly after the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) announced it was legalizing crypto derivatives on Wednesday, the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) pulled the curtain on its plan to start the trading of a Bitcoin futures contract on a fund tracking the price of Bitcoin, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT).

The digital currency quote will be expressed in U.S. dollars per lot and settlements will be made in Russian rubles, Kommersant and RBC detailed in separate reports. Trading will open on June 4 and the futures will expire in September.

Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg Exchange (SPB) also revealed it intends to commence trading of futures tied to the value of cryptocurrencies. It told the Tass news agency that professional participants in the market have been already granted access to the contract, and they are currently testing it.

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