Russia\'s largest state-owned banking and financial services company, Sherbank, announced on Tuesday that it was developing a new cryptocurrency trading platform for its customers. The exchange will be opened under its subsidiary branch in Zurich, Sherbank (Switzerland) AG. 

Sherbank\'s Head of Global Markets, Andrey Shemetov, said the move follows greater interest by its investors in cryptocurrency trading. It is developing the exchange in Zurich in order to circumvent Russia\'s domestic regulations concerning the use of cryptocurrencies. The Russian government currently limits the bank\'s ability to trade cryptocurrencies within domestic markets, and recently announced further plans to regulate the market, which are set to come into force in September. 

Switzerland currently offers greater freedom to pursue cryptocurrency activities, including trading. Zurich is widely considered the world economy\'s \"Crypto Valley\". Sherbank will seek to implement their trading platform via Sherbank (Switzerland) AG. This will allow them to satisfy customer demands for cryptocurrency investment and trading opportunities without violating domestic laws.

Sherbank will implement strict rules concerning their new cryptocurrency platform, which will only be available to a select number of customers. Only legal entities will be able to make use of Sherbank\'s platform. They will only trade high liquidity cryptocurrency pairs, such as bitcoin and ETH, to help minimise the risks of the market volatility of cryptocurrency trade.