Oliver Hughes, Tinkoff's CEO, said Thursday there were "qualified investors who know what they're doing" who want to invest in crypto, but that his company isn't currently able to offer them those services.
"There's no mechanism for us to offer that product to them in Russia at the moment because the central bank has got this very tough position," he told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
Russia gave cryptocurrencies like bitcoin legal status in 2020. However, it banned digital assets from being used in payments, saying that only the Russian ruble could be considered legal tender.