Russian lawmaker proposes adding crypto market to Moscow Stock Exchange

A leader within Russia's State Duma has come out in support of a crypto market within the Moscow Stock Exchange, or MOEX.

According to Interfax, Anatoliy Aksakov said at a Thursday news conference: "Of course there should be a crypto market that is founded on the strict requirements of the central bank. I suggest that it be a subdivision of the Moscow Stock Exchange."

He continued to say that such a market within the traditions of MOEX and in collaboration with the central bank would "better than any manage the tasks of fulfilling trading with cryptocurrency."

The leader of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, Aksakov has long played a key role in establishing the country's cryptocurrency policy. Earlier this year, the Russian Central Bank seemed to be toying with the idea of a blanket ban on crypto, which President Vladimir Putin intervened to stop. 

Subsequently, Russia invaded Ukraine. Resulting sanctions have racked Russia's markets, even leading MOEX to stop trading for a time shortly after the invasion. Many leaders in countries imposing sanctions have spotlit crypto as a means for evading those sanctions, despite doubts that Russia could do so at a meaningful scale.