Two years after U.S. sanctions forced dollar trading off the Moscow stock exchange, it's bringing the dollar back as the price tag for crypto perps while settling every trade in rubles.
- The Moscow stock exchange, also known just as Moscow Exchange, Russia's largest securities marketplace, will begin trading perpetual futures tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP and TRON on Sept. 22, according to a Wednesday announcement.
- The contracts, available only to qualified investors, will be quoted in U.S. dollars using MOEX's crypto indexes.
- But gains, losses and funding payments will ultimately be settled in Russian rubles. No dollars or crypto need to change hands.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Moscow Exchange, its National Clearing Center and National Settlement Depository in June 2024.
As a result, Russia's central bank suspended exchange trading and settlement in deliverable dollar and euro instruments, pushing those currencies into the over-the-counter market instead.
The new crypto contracts, therefore, use the dollar primarily as a unit of account, while the actual financial plumbing remains ruble-based.
From zero to 600 billion rubles
Despite the sanctions, MOEX's crypto derivatives business has seemingly expanded pretty quickly.
- The exchange launched its first crypto-linked futures, based on BlackRock's IBIT Bitcoin ETF, in June 2025.
- Ethereum ETF futures followed in August, while direct BTC and ETH index futures arrived that November.
- Solana, XRP and TRON monthly futures were added in May 2026.
According to a press release from Moscow Exchange, more than 27,000 qualified investors had traded its crypto-linked futures by mid-November 2025. That figure rose to more than 62,000 by May 2026 and now exceeds 72,000, roughly 2.7 times the November level.
MOEX said those investors have generated more than 600 billion rubles (about $7.1 billion at current prices) in cumulative crypto-derivatives turnover since the first contracts launched last summer.
Perps without owning crypto
The new products are one-day cash-settled futures that automatically roll forward, effectively giving Russian investors perpetual exposure without having to repeatedly replace expiring contracts.
But the distinction is that investors aren't really buying BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP or TRX and can't withdraw them. MOEX says all of its crypto derivatives settle financially in rubles, while prices are expressed in dollars and converted using USD/RUB for the resulting ruble profit or loss.
That leaves Moscow Exchange with an increasingly broad crypto market built almost entirely around synthetic exposure, rather than direct ownership or trading of the underlying cryptocurrencies themselves.