MOEX to launch 5 crypto perpetual futures on Sept. 22
Moscow Exchange has scheduled the Sept. 22 launch of perpetual futures tied to Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and Tron indexes, with the cash-settled contracts restricted to qualified investors.
- MOEX will launch five perpetual crypto futures on September 22 for qualified market investors only.
- Contracts track Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP and Tron indexes without delivering underlying digital assets physically.
- More than 72,000 qualified investors have traded MOEX crypto futures, the exchange said this week.
- Crypto futures turnover has exceeded 600 billion rubles since MOEX introduced contracts during last summer.
- Contracts will be dollar-quoted, ruble-settled and automatically rolled using daily funding calculations under exchange specifications.
Moscow Exchange said in itsofficial Sept. 16 announcement that the products will operate as one-day futures with automatic rollover, giving investors exposure to cryptocurrency price movements without receiving or transferring the underlying digital assets. The exchange’s contract specification is set to take effect on Sept. 22.
The Sept. 16 announcement remains the latest MOEX launch notice located as of Sept. 17. No subsequent exchange notice reviewed changed the scheduled Sept. 22 start.
MOEX perpetual futures will cover five crypto indexes
The new contracts will track five indexes calculated by Moscow Exchange. BTCUSDF will reference the MOEX Bitcoin Index, while ETHUSDF will follow the exchange’s Ether benchmark. SOLUSDF, XRPUSDF and TRXUSDF will track the corresponding Solana, XRP and Tron indexes.
MOEX already offers monthly futures tied to the same five cryptocurrency indexes. Bitcoin and Ether index futures began trading in November 2025, while contracts linked to Solana, XRP and Tron followed on May 14, 2026. Before the altcoin futures arrived, Moscow Exchange changed how its cryptocurrency benchmarks were calculated. Since May 13, the indexes have used prices from major cryptocurrency exchanges and update every 15 seconds during relevant trading periods. MOEX then uses the indexes to calculate settlement values for its existing contracts.
MOEX introduced indexes for SOL, XRP, TRX and BNB in May using data from Binance, Bybit, OKX and Bitget. At the time, the exchange said the benchmarks could later support new trading instruments. SOL, XRP and TRX subsequently became underlying indexes for monthly futures and will now receive perpetual contracts. BNB is not included in the five perpetual futures announced for Sept. 22.
Contracts settle in rubles without delivering crypto
Although each new contract will be quoted in U.S. dollars using its corresponding index value, MOEX said financial settlement will take place in Russian rubles. Investors therefore will not need to hold Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP or Tron to trade the products.
MOEX describes all of its current crypto futures as settlement contracts. At expiration or settlement, no cryptocurrency changes hands; only the financial result is calculated and settled through the exchange and participating brokers. Its product documentation says movements in USD/RUB affect the ruble value of the result because the underlying futures prices are expressed in dollars.
Unlike MOEX’s existing monthly crypto-index contracts, the new instruments are one-day futures with automatic rollover. Funding will be calculated under the exchange’s published specification, with MOEX setting the K1 parameter at 0% and K2 at 0.35%.
The exchange already runs perpetual futures across other asset categories. Its existing perpetual lineup contains 31 contracts covering currency pairs, MOEX indexes, the government bond index, precious metals and Russian and foreign securities. Maria Patrikeeva, managing director of the MOEX derivatives market, called the launch “an important milestone in the development of the Russian derivatives market.” She said the exchange was seeing “strong investor demand” for derivatives tied to digital assets.
Crypto futures demand has passed 600 billion rubles
MOEX said more than 72,000 qualified investors have traded its digital-asset futures since the exchange began offering crypto-linked contracts, with cumulative transaction volume exceeding 600 billion rubles. The figures come from Moscow Exchange and have not been presented as Bank of Russia statistics.
The exchange’s current crypto derivatives product page still displays an earlier August snapshot showing 71,000 clients had traded crypto-related products since launch. It lists average daily turnover of 2.5 billion rubles during August and a record daily volume of 10.2 billion rubles on Aug. 21.
The newer 72,000 figure in the Sept. 16 release covers activity after that August snapshot. MOEX did not publish a separate breakdown showing how much of the cumulative 600 billion rubles came from Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, XRP or Tron contracts.
However, Moscow Exchange first entered regulated crypto-linked futures with a contract based on BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF in June 2025. An Ether ETF-linked contract followed in August, before MOEX moved to futures directly referencing its own Bitcoin and Ether indexes in November.
As crypto.news reported when the first Bitcoin ETF future launched, access was restricted to qualified investors from the start. The IBIT-linked contract was quoted in dollars and settled in rubles, establishing the same basic cash-settlement structure later used for direct cryptocurrency-index futures.
MOEX’s 2025 annual report said more than 40,000 clients traded its crypto-linked contracts during that year, generating more than 212 billion rubles of turnover.
Russia still limits these derivatives to qualified investors
The structure follows rules the Bank of Russia introduced in May 2025 for financial products tied to cryptocurrency prices. The central bank said financial institutions could offer qualified investors derivatives, securities and digital financial assets linked to cryptocurrency values, provided the products did not involve physical delivery of cryptocurrency.
MOEX repeats the restriction on its own crypto-futures page. Both individuals and legal entities must hold qualified-investor status to trade the exchange’s cryptocurrency futures, and brokers determine final client access.
Russia’s rules for direct cryptocurrency transactions changed on Sept. 1, 2026. Under the new legal framework described by the Bank of Russia, both qualified and non-qualified investors can access cryptocurrency through regulated intermediaries, although the two groups operate under different limits.
Non-qualified investors must pass a test and are limited to purchases of eligible liquid cryptocurrencies worth no more than 300,000 rubles per year through each intermediary. The Bank of Russia identified Bitcoin, Ether and USDT for retail access under its liquidity and price-history criteria. Qualified investors can trade cryptocurrencies without the same purchase ceiling after completing the required testing.
As crypto.news reported when the new framework took effect, the Sept. 1 rules created regulated routes for cryptocurrency trading and custody through supervised intermediaries. MOEX’s Sept. 22 perpetual futures remain a separate derivatives product and are limited to qualified investors under the exchange’s specifications.
The Bank of Russia expanded routes to qualified-investor status shortly before the new crypto framework started. Rules effective Aug. 31 allow individuals to qualify through approved Russian financial-market examinations and certificates, including a MOEX Investor Certificate, alongside existing asset, income, experience and education criteria.
