It should be noted that not all experts approve of the idea of investing in digital assets and the connection with them in general. For example, the day before the Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey criticized the integration of Bitcoin in the economy of El Salvador, where the cryptocurrency is now a full-fledged means of payment.

First of all, the banker is not happy with the volatility of Bitcoin, i.e. the rate of change in its value. According to Bailey, this will create additional problems for the financial situation of the country’s citizens who will interact with digital assets.

Bitcoin on the streets of El Salvador

Who invests in cryptocurrencies

According to the survey, 46 percent of respondents see crypto as a potential hedge against the financial crisis. Moreover, digital assets are even more popular than real estate – the latter was singled out as their best investment by only 37 percent of survey participants.

At the same time, according to Anastasia Kosheleva, head of Investing in Russia, real estate has traditionally been considered one of the most popular alternative assets in Russia. The trend in the popularity of cryptocurrencies only emerged in 2021 amid rapid growth in the new industry’s capitalisation, Coindesk reported.

Central Bank of Russia

According to sources, Bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency in Russia, followed by Tether and Litecoin. This small ranking was based on the frequency of mentions of the asset in Russian social media segments.

Unfortunately, Bitcoin’s legal status in Russia is still uncertain

The Investing survey confirms data from a recent Central Bank report: it turns out that the average volume of crypto transactions in the country per year is about $5 billion, or 350 billion rubles. The Central Bank representatives, however, did not forget to point out that despite its scale, the crypto industry has so far had little or no impact on the Russian economy due to its isolated niche, Cointelegraph reported.

However, this does not negate the fact that Russia leads the world in terms of crypto investor activity and citizens’ erudition of cryptocurrencies. Perhaps the government should consider passing new laws on the legal status of Bitcoin and altcoins in Russia. Despite the adoption of a law on digital assets, the position of cryptocurrencies in the country is still highly questionable.

The same is true for mining, which is also not yet clear. Officials occasionally mention the topic, but that is usually where it ends.

Russia and digital currencies

For example, in the first half of November, Vyacheslav Volodin instructed to create a working group on the circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation. In doing so, the author of the initiative was First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Security and Counteraction to Corruption Andrei Lugovoi.

According to Lugovoi, “miners are enriching themselves by $2 billion annually at the expense of the population and do not pay taxes.

It should be noted that "at the expense of the population" only those miners, who steal electricity and mine coins dishonestly, get rich. At the same time other owners of computing equipment pay for the energy spent, so characterizing them in such a manner is at least unfair. However, such wording is generally in line with the government's position, which presents crypto as something dangerous and not entirely legal. Therefore, one should not be surprised by such statements - they are quite predictable.

Cryptocurrency miner


We think that the interaction with cryptocurrencies in the current environment is a logical solution. After all, the world is currently experiencing sharp inflation amid actions by authorities to contain the effects of mass quarantines due to the coronavirus. There is more conventional money in circulation, so the existing stock has depreciated.

Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are in no way susceptible to such activity from officials. Not only do some of them have a limited maximum supply, but they also have a fixed issuance rate, i.e. the issuance of new coins. And that looks a lot better than endlessly printing banknotes.