Around 20 million people in Russia use cryptocurrencies and hold more than $44 billion worth of digital assets, according to the country’s Finance Ministry. The federal government expects the number of users to increase by another 10 million in 2027, the first year after transactions involving digital assets were legalized.

20 million Russians use crypto as daily turnover reaches 50 billion rubles

Approximately 20 million residents of the Russian Federation currently use cryptocurrencies, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said in an interview with TASS.

Chebeskov said experts estimate that Russian citizens’ total crypto investments amount to 3.7 trillion rubles, or more than $44 billion. Quoted by the business news portal RBC, he said the estimate covers both direct cryptocurrency holdings and financial products linked to digital assets.

“This amount includes direct holdings of digital currencies as well as certain financial products linked to them,” Chebeskov.

Cryptocurrency transactions in Russia average 50 billion rubles per day, equivalent to nearly $600 million, the deputy minister told TASS. The figure was first announced in February, when Russian authorities were preparing to regulate the country’s expanding digital-asset market, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan.

Taken together, the user, holdings and turnover figures provide an official measurement of a market that had previously operated largely outside Russia’s legal framework.

Investment, trading and exchange transactions involving cryptocurrencies have since been legalized under the bill “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights,” which entered into force on September 1. The legislation represents Moscow’s first comprehensive attempt to regulate cryptocurrency. Both houses of parliament passed it in July, after some delay, and President Vladimir Putin signed it in early August.

Russia may issue its first crypto licenses by the end of 2026

The law establishes a legal framework for licensing cryptocurrency exchanges, creating digital depositories and allowing intermediaries, including banks and brokers, to provide related services.

Central Bank of Russia Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin said this week that the first participants in the organized cryptocurrency market could be registered and licensed by the end of 2026. A rollout on that timetable would put the first licensed operators in place just before 2027, the year the Finance Ministry expects the user base to expand as the regulations take effect.

Bitcoin mining was the only cryptocurrency-related activity previously recognized as a legitimate business and regulated under a separate framework, which took effect in November 2024. Operations involving “digital financial assets” (DFAs) issued on private blockchains, including tokenized securities, were legalized under a separate law that came into force in January 2021.

Moscow expects 10 million new crypto users in 2027

Chebeskov also outlined the Finance Ministry’s expectations for the future growth of Russia’s cryptocurrency user base. He told TASS that around 10 million Russian citizens could become crypto users next year as regulations take effect and the market develops.

Some investors currently use domestic platforms that have not yet been licensed, while others rely on foreign infrastructure. As a result, it is difficult to establish an exact user count or determine how many users will become visible to the Russian state, Chebeskov said.

Speaking at the Moscow Financial Forum 2026 on Monday, he said Russian residents have more than 10 million cryptocurrency wallets held abroad. The government wants those assets transferred into Russia’s regulated ecosystem.

In comments quoted by RBC, Chebeskov said:

“We spoke with foreign exchanges … and found that at least 10 million wallets belonging to Russian citizens exist within foreign infrastructure. So, there is indeed a degree of competition for these clients, and the goal is to bring them into our infrastructure.”

Russian companies and individuals have increasingly used cryptocurrencies to circumvent restrictions on fiat transactions imposed on the country under sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.

Under the new rules, nonprofessional investors may purchase up to 300,000 rubles’ worth of digital assets annually through each intermediary and transfer coins to wallets hosted abroad. Self-hosted and foreign wallets have not been explicitly prohibited, but transactions within Russia’s jurisdiction may be conducted legally only through authorized service providers.

Cryptocurrency must be held by registered depositories, while cross-border transfers may be made only to wallets hosted by regulated foreign platforms that work with a licensed Russian entity. Tax residents must report transactions involving addresses not administered by domestic depositories to the Federal Tax Service (FNS), Chebeskov emphasized.

He also warned that digital depositories will not be responsible for assets frozen by foreign issuers, a situation that has previously affected stablecoin holdings.

Tether’s U.S. dollar-pegged USDT is among the three most liquid and highly capitalized cryptocurrencies that ordinary Russians will be permitted to acquire. The other two are Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). That freeze-risk warning bears directly on retail users, since the dollar-pegged stablecoin sits on the permitted list.