Bitcoin futures trading starts on the Moscow Stock Exchange. What you need to know

The Moscow Stock Exchange launches bitcoin futures trading on June 4. Only qualified investors will be allowed to operate with this new financial instrument. The St. Petersburg Stock Exchange is also preparing to launch trading in settlement futures linked to the value of cryptocurrencies. What you need to know about the appearance of such assets in Russia is in the Izvestia article.

What is Bitcoin?

• Bitcoin is the most famous cryptocurrency, which has become especially popular in recent years. Initially, it was used to service the shadow economy, but over time it became part of the financial world. Bitcoin has been fully legalized and made a medium of exchange in El Salvador, and dozens of countries around the world have abandoned any bans on it. In Russia, its status, like other cryptocurrencies, is not fully regulated — it can be owned, but there are no legal platforms for its turnover.

• Over the years of bitcoin's existence, its value has increased many times, and at a faster rate than that of traditional assets. At the end of May, the cryptocurrency exchange rate broke through the historical maximum of $ 111 thousand. The reason for this was the real steps towards the widespread legalization of bitcoin in the United States and the increased demand due to this. According to some forecasts, by the end of 2025, the cost of bitcoin may rise to $ 150,000.

Bitcoin in Russia

• Bitcoin as an investment product has a high level of risk and is extremely volatile, that is, it has a high rate of price change. This is typical of any cryptocurrency in general. Nevertheless, this does not prevent all such assets from being quite popular means of investment among Russians. By the end of 2024, experts estimated that individuals alone had invested about 2 trillion rubles in the crypt. A significant amount is also held by legal entities for which digital currencies are a means of cross-border payments.

• The Central Bank of Russia does not consider cryptocurrency as a means of payment and does not advise investing directly in it. In February, he even recommended that financial institutions minimize their involvement in digital currency transactions. However, already in March, the Bank of Russia made a number of proposals to regulate investments in cryptocurrencies.

• As an experiment, the Central Bank proposed allowing a limited number of investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies under a special legal regime that will be in effect for three years. "Highly qualified" investors can become participants in the experiment. This is a new status that citizens with investments in securities and deposits over 100 million rubles or if their income for the previous year amounted to more than 50 million rubles will receive.

• After the Central Bank announced this proposal, the Ministry of Finance announced that they were considering two Russian exchanges as participants in an experiment on cryptocurrency trading. As a result, qualified investors were allowed to invest money in derivatives — derivative financial instruments and securities that will be linked to the value of cryptocurrencies. At the same time, the key condition for investors is that the physical delivery of digital currency should not take place.

• At the end of May, the Moscow Exchange announced the start of trading in new futures contracts for shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF investment fund, which tracks the dynamics of the bitcoin price. The contract lot will amount to one share of the investment fund, it will be valued in US dollars, but calculations will be carried out in rubles. At the same time, the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange has begun an active phase of testing futures trading tied to the value of cryptocurrencies.

What is the special feature of Bitcoin futures?

• Since the Central Bank considers cryptocurrency only as an investment, not a payment instrument, it will not be possible to pay it in Russia. Only a limited number of appropriately qualified investors will be able to invest in futures, while all individuals have access to traditional financial instruments (stocks, bonds, gold).

• Analysts believe that the start of bitcoin futures trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange will allow investors not to speculate on third-party platforms, where they are almost guaranteed to run out of money because they will not be able to withdraw them, while the Moscow Stock Exchange is an official platform regulated by the Central Bank.

Active growth: bitcoin is predicted to reach $150,000 by the end of the year

At the end of May, he updated the historical record — why did this happen and how long will this trend last?

• However, this instrument will primarily attract fans of risky speculation due to its high volatility. You can earn tens of percent on it during the quarter, but you can also lose as much. In this sense, the new tool will be similar to regular gambling and will have nothing to do with real investments.

• However, the new futures will be of practical interest to those who engage in foreign economic activity using bitcoin. Such players will be able to use futures contracts to fix the price in their transactions in bitcoins and then make transfers to rubles based on them.

When writing the material, Izvestia interviewed:

• financial analyst Dmitry Golubovsky.