Even though the Russian government still didn’t adopt any crypto legislation, it’s estimated that Russians collectively hold about $130 billion in crypto, Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin claims.
More Than 10 Million People Have a Crypto Wallet
The prime minister noted that this estimate came from various sources and stated that about 10 million young people have active cryptocurrency wallets. This means that people are making transactions totaling over 10 trillion rubles.
What’s more, if this estimate is true, Russian crypto holdings are close to Russia’s gold stash, which are about $140 billion.
The government started talking about these numbers sometime after the Bank of Russia announced it would estimate the size of local crypto holdings. The central bank has since calculated that annual crypto transactions are worth around $5 billion. However, another source came up with a figure of $214 billion.
Still, the government is having issues with regulating the use of cryptocurrency in Russia. The central bank is still one of the biggest skeptics of crypto, with its governor promoting the crypto ban.
Even though many believe that Russia will use cryptocurrency to avoid global sanctions, first deputy governor Ksenia Yudaeva noted that using crypto for such purposes would be impossible, especially for large transactions.