Moscow Exchange plans to begin its pilot at 10:50 p.m. ET Nov. 30 (03:50 UTC Dec. 1), with trading in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and USD Tether (USDT) alongside its existing cash-settled crypto-index futures.
Senior Managing Director Boris Blokhin outlined the timetable at the Smart-Lab investment conference Oct. 31. Trading is scheduled from 10:50 p.m. ET Nov. 30 (03:50 UTC Dec. 1) until 3:50 p.m. ET Dec. 1 (20:50 UTC).
Orders would be matched in an electronic order book using the exchange’s stock-market systems, a design intended to contain additional broker costs. Blokhin also said participants would be able to use swaps to manage liquidity.
The proposal places professional market participants between clients and the exchange, assigning asset custody and recordkeeping to partner digital depositories. Its existing crypto-index futures settle in cash and are available to qualified investors.
Public access for other investors depends on regulation. Bank of Russia draft Directive No. 7441-U would allow public trading in the three assets and limit nonqualified investors’ annual crypto purchases through brokers. The proposal was still in the state-registration process on Nov. 1, ahead of the pilot’s planned start Dec. 1.
