Russia\'s largest bank Sberbank plans to build cryptocurrency trading infrastructure by Dec. 1, including a digital depository for recording ownership and processing most transactions off the main blockchain. It also plans to operate active wallets for deposits, withdrawals and transfers. The move comes as Russia advances a comprehensive legal framework for crypto markets, setting supervision by the central bank, eligibility thresholds and regulated participant categories. The EU and Britain have tightened sanctions, including on exchange HTX.

Overseas investors are effectively investing early in Chinese AI semiconductor companies through perpetual futures on cryptocurrency exchanges, an analysis said. With direct access to mainland Chinese equities limited, investors are betting on pre-listing prices via crypto derivatives. Trading has surged ahead of ChangXin Memory Technologies\' planned STAR Market listing. The products allow round-the-clock trading without owning shares and are seen as a way to bypass China’s foreign investment restrictions and perform price discovery before IPO pricing.