Millions of Russian citizens are already using cryptocurrency, finally convincing their government that regulation rather than prohibition is what’s actually needed.
According to an estimate, coins in Russian wallets have reached dozens of billions of dollars in valuation, a clear indication of the growing popularity of decentralized digital money in an otherwise centralized system.
Russian crypto users change Moscow’s crypto stance
Around 20 million people in Russia regularly use cryptocurrency, members of the senior management of the country’s finance ministry and central bank have acknowledged.
Quoted by the official TASS news agency on Thursday, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov, stated:
“We recognize that crypto exists – that much is clear. It took some time to reach that understanding. We have millions of citizens, by some estimates 20 million, who use cryptocurrency for various purposes.”
“Since they are already using it, we need our own infrastructure to protect citizens and to have both economic and technological benefits,” the high-ranking Minfin official conceded.
The figure referenced by Chebeskov was confirmed by Vladimir Chistyukhin, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), as per a report by leading Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media.
Speaking at this week’s Finopolis 2025 forum, he agreed that approximately 20 million Russians currently use digital coins in their daily lives.
According to data compiled by Russia’s monetary authority, the assets held by Russian residents in wallets on crypto exchanges reached 827 billion rubles (over $10 billion) at the end of March, an increase of 27% over the same period of 2024.
The bulk of these holdings, at the end of the first quarter, were in Bitcoin (BTC), 62.1%, Ethereum (ETH), 22%, and the U.S.-dollar pegged stablecoins USDT and USDC, 15.9% combined.
According to a top executive at Russia’s largest commercial bank, the majority state-owned Sber, Russians keep much more crypto in their pockets than what the CBR has found.
“Cryptocurrencies are popular among Russians. According to our calculations, market figures confirm interest in crypto investment,” First Deputy Chairman of Sberbank’s Management Board Alexander Vedyakhin commented, quoted by TASS.
During the same fintech conference, Vedyakhin stated:
“The total digital assets held by individuals and companies can be estimated at at least $40 billion.”
“The potential circle of cryptocurrency investors can be quite broad,” added the banker, whose institution was among the first to place crypto derivatives on the Russian market, after the CBR authorized their offering in May.
Russia is ready to regulate cryptocurrency in 2026
Earlier this year, Russian authorities permitted the use of cryptocurrencies in foreign trade under Western sanctions and granted a narrow category of “highly qualified” investors access to the digital assets and their derivatives.
But the country lacks a comprehensive regulatory framework, with the Bank of Russia, in particular, being reluctant to allow crypto operations beyond a strictly controlled “experimental legal regime.”
The mood in Moscow has been changing, however, and last week, the regulator announced it will conduct a thorough survey of crypto investing and lending to companies in the sector in the first two months of 2026.
And this week, its First Deputy Chairman Vladimir Chistyukhin unveiled that while maintaining its conservative stance on crypto, the CBR intends to, nevertheless, allow Russian banks to work with crypto assets, as reported by Cryptopolitan.
Also at the Finopolis event, the deputy governor indicated the central bank expects Russian parliament to adopt legislation governing crypto investments as early as next year. He elaborated:
“In terms of timeframes, we are very ambitious. We believe that the preliminary discussions have taken a considerable amount of time, and now we must strive to reach a final consensus and move forward.”
According to TASS, Chistyukhin expressed hope that licensing will begin right after the passing of the law, so that the first licensed service providers can emerge by the end of the year.
“And then, we would need at least another year to prepare all participants and to clean up the mess with those entities currently conducting crypto transactions,” he added.
That should allow Russian lawmakers to introduce necessary changes to the country’s criminal and administrative codes by 2027, Chistyukhin explained.