Sanctions don’t work: the number of cryptocurrency transactions in Russia tripled in 2023

According to media reports from the terrorist state, from January to September 2023, the number of cryptocurrency transactions in Russia tripled. The volume of such transactions has almost doubled, said Yuri Chikhanchin, director of Rosfinmonitoring.

Interestingly, last October, the EU tightened sanctions against Russia for cryptocurrency transactions in the eurozone. Companies with a European license were banned from opening accounts and crypto wallets for citizens of the aggressor state.

However, the number of crypto transactions in Russia has only increased. «We see an increase in the popularity of cryptocurrency transactions — their number has increased several times a year. For example, according to our data, the number of transactions with digital assets exceeded 185,000 in the first 9 months of this year (last year, 60,000 were recorded in the same period),» Chikhanchin said.

According to Deutsche Welle, when Russian banks were disconnected from the SWIFT system under sanctions due to full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, the occupiers began transferring money from Russia using digital assets. Most often, Russians transfer money using the USDT cryptocurrency, which is pegged to the dollar at a one-to-one ratio.

Sometimes cryptocurrencies are exchanged for regular money during a personal meeting. This method is considered the most profitable because you don’t have to pay an exchange commission. You can find and contact a trader through special chats on Telegram. Usually, such chats are closed, and you can enter them only after moderators verify your identity.

According to Singapore-based TripleA, in 2023, about 8.5 million Russians used cryptocurrency, which is 5.8% of the country’s population. The occupiers are ranked 11th in the world in terms of the amount of currency stored on crypto wallets. According to the Russian Ministry of Finance, about 13 million Russians conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies. Of these, 1 million are active users with a daily turnover of more than RUB 10 billion.