Moscow Exchange to Launch Its Own Bitcoin Index

The Moscow Exchange has announced the launch of a Bitcoin index. The calculation and publication of the indicator under the ticker MOEXBTC will commence on June 10.

Mechanics of the New Index

The index is calculated once a day at 12:30 Moscow time. Detailed methodology can be found on the trading platform’s website.

MOEXBTC is based on price data from perpetual futures and swaps for the BTC/USDT pair. Information is gathered from four major centralized crypto exchanges: Binance, Bybit, OKX, and Bitget.

The index represents a weighted average of prices from these trading platforms. The list and weight of platforms will be reviewed quarterly to reflect the current market situation.

In the future, the index could become the underlying asset for the creation of new financial instruments. This paves the way for the launch of exchange-traded products based on the price of the first cryptocurrency in the traditional Russian market, according to the press release.

“A Symbolic Step”

ENCRY Foundation co-founder Roman Nekrasov commented to ForkLog that at this stage, the launch is more symbolic “in terms of direct market impact.” The index serves as a benchmark for professional participants and can be used in calculations, but its practical value will only be revealed after the emergence of derivatives, “if they appear.”

In his view, the emergence of a Bitcoin index is part of a broader strategy to integrate crypto assets into the traditional financial system.

“Like the launch of IBIT futures on June 4, MOEXBTC is an attempt to integrate crypto themes into the familiar frameworks for regulators and infrastructure: without physical delivery, without trading the asset itself, through controlled settlement bases. This is a conservative, regulated experiment that allows testing interest from participants without going beyond existing legislation,” Nekrasov explained.

He also noted the caution and limited pace at which Russian infrastructure is moving:

“Even IBIT futures are available exclusively to qualified investors, which automatically narrows potential liquidity. The key question remains whether a sufficient number of secondary instruments will be created for the index to function as a full-fledged basis. Without this, it will remain an indicator ‘for show’.”

Technobit CEO Alexander Peresichan also sees the index launch as a foundation for future products. In his opinion, the instrument could serve as a basis for creating derivative instruments.

The speaker emphasized that such a model does not contradict Russian legislation, which prohibits the circulation of Bitcoin but not trading derivatives on an indicator reflecting the price of the first cryptocurrency.

The need for a standardized index, he says, is dictated by the very nature of the crypto market:

“Price differences for Bitcoin on different exchanges can sometimes reach hundreds of dollars. An index is needed as a benchmark and a basis for building instruments. It allows standardizing the price and calculating returns, hedging positions, and building products.”

Ultimately, according to Peresichan, these steps will benefit the exchange itself:

“The index itself, of course, will not attract anyone. But products related to the index, as well as the start of futures trading, can attract new users and increase investor engagement. […] All this will work to strengthen the Moscow Exchange’s position in the domestic market.”

In April, during the debut session, the trading volume of Bitcoin ETF futures exceeded 423 million rubles, and the number of transactions reached nearly 8,600.