It should be noted that the attitude towards cryptocurrencies among government officials has started to change little by little amid the imposition of sanctions on Russia. For example, at the end of March, representatives of the RF Ministry of Finance said that they did not see any sense in banning so-called domestic mining, i.e. cryptocurrency mining at home. As Alexei Yakovlev, deputy director of the ministry’s Financial Policy Department, said at the time, the authorities also believe that the development of cryptocurrency mining on an industrial scale is appropriate.

How many cryptocurrencies have been bought in Russia

The prime minister did not mention the source of the figure he voiced, but assured that it was based on “several indicators at once”. Here is the official’s quote.

We are well aware that we have more than 10 million young people today who have opened cryptocurrency wallets, to which they have transferred significant amounts of money in excess of 10 trillion rubles.

Here is a video of Mishustin’s speech, during which he made a statement.

If true, then Russian citizens’ investments in crypto are closer to the country’s gold reserve. According to news outlet Cointelegraph, Russia’s corresponding reserves are equivalent to $140 billion, or 20 percent of the country’s central bank reserves.

The latest figures from the Russian government come a few months after the Bank of Russia announced plans to estimate the amount of crypto-investment by the public. In addition, the Central Bank had previously estimated the annual volume of cryptocurrency transactions in Russia at just $5 billion. At the same time, at the beginning of 2022, some sources estimated the total volume of cryptocurrencies in circulation within the Russian Federation at $214 billion.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin

Despite the fact that Russians are increasingly investing in cryptocurrencies, the Russian government has been somewhat slow to adopt clear rules to regulate the growing cryptocurrency market, and various government agencies have been unable to come to a consensus on how to regulate the industry. Nevertheless, on Friday, the Russian Ministry of Finance submitted another version of the Russian cryptocurrency bill to the government, amending the document in line with comments from other ministries and regulators.

Mishustin has addressed the topic of cryptocurrencies for a reason – many experts have recently had different opinions on whether Russia can circumvent Western sanctions against it by using digital assets. Most agree, however, that it is virtually impossible to do so on a national scale “without making a lot of noise”.


The latest such viewpoint was expressed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. She stated that it would be very difficult to use crypto on such a large scale, so this scenario is unlikely.

Bitcoin adoption

Sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, meanwhile, continues to increase. The EU has now imposed a ban on “the provision of high value crypto-asset services to Russia”. The ban is part of the fifth package of sanctions announced by the EU against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

The new sanctions on cryptocurrencies will “help close potential loopholes”, the European Union said in a press release. It is likely to be an additional precaution against potential attempts to circumvent the restrictive measures, experts say.

Other financial restrictions in the package include "a complete transaction ban and asset freeze on four Russian banks, which are now completely cut off from the markets". There is also a ban on providing financial advice to wealthy Russians to make it harder for them to keep their wealth in the EU.

Will the Russian government still attempt to circumvent sanctions specifically through crypto? If so, officials will have to take a huge step towards accepting Bitcoin and altcoins, up to and including their official recognition. So far, however, there are no signs of such a strategy taking shape. In addition, such a scenario is unlikely given the government’s overall stance.


We think the Russians' desire to get involved with cryptocurrencies seems logical. After all, coins are much less dependent on government decisions - and are also better protected against inflation, which will probably only gain momentum. This also speaks to user confidence in the future of coins and the belief that digital assets will continue to become more popular.

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