Russia's biggest bank is testing bitcoin trading in its app, with a December 1 opening planned for all customers

Russia's largest bank is testing crypto in its main banking app. Sberbank said on Thursday that it has started trial transactions in Sberbank Online and is preparing a service that lets customers buy, sell, deposit and withdraw digital assets, RIA Novosti and Vedomosti reported, citing the bank.

During the test, bitcoin, ether, the stablecoin USDT and other popular assets are available. Access is limited to people taking part in the trial, according to The Crypto Times. The bank demonstrated the service for retail clients at its investment forum.

Sberbank plans to offer crypto transactions to all clients from December 1, in the banking app, its SberInvestments brokerage app and its SberBusiness platform for companies. The timing is not fully in its hands. The final list of permitted coins will be set by Bank of Russia regulations, and the launch depends on when those rules take effect, Vedomosti reported.

The bank moved early. On October 6 it became the first bank entered in the Bank of Russia's register of digital depositories, the custodians that hold clients' crypto under Russia's new rules.

The limits are tight. Ordinary investors must pass a test, can buy only the most liquid coins and are capped at 300,000 rubles a year through each intermediary. Paying for goods and services with crypto inside Russia remains banned, The Crypto Times reported.

Sberbank is not alone. Alfa-Bank has begun testing crypto trading in its investment app, and T-Bank and VTB have announced plans of their own, according to The Crypto Times.