Russia houses $200B worth of crypto, Kremlin estimates

Russian citizens reportedly own 16.5 trillion rubles ($214 billion) worth of cryptocurrencies, according to government estimates.

A Bloomberg report noted that Russians own about 12% of the total global crypto holdings. The crypto holdings estimates were calculated by analyzing IP addresses of some of the most significant crypto exchange users in the country along with a few other data points, said two people working with Kremlin. The crypto holdings analysis of Russian citizens is being carried out to get an overview of the crypto market and formulate new regulations. The proposals are yet to be finalized.

The estimates are believed to be on the lower side, given that crypto regulations are not yet clear in the country and many users prefer to use anonymous tools to carry out their transactions.

The recent crypto holdings estimate is a big jump from the data shared by Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the lower house of parliament’s financial markets committee in December. According to the Tass news service report in December 2021, Russians owned 5 trillion rubles worth of crypto.

Related: Central bank overkill: Russia’s proposed crypto ban and why everyone’s against it

Russia witnessed a back and forth between the central bank and finance ministry over the past month. First, the central bank proposed a blanket ban on crypto mining and trading, however, the finance ministry countered the blanket ban proposal with a crypto regulatory framework. The finance ministry found support in President Putin, himself, who advocated for regulating the market.

Russia is currently third in terms of Bitcoin network mining input and Putin acknowledged the same, calling for the use of surplus energy for crypto mining. With the finance ministry and president onboard, Russia could soon regulate crypto trading and mining.

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