Foreign media reports that in the first half of 2026, the Russian Central Bank added 2,600 cryptocurrency wallets to its monitoring system because these addresses received over 1 billion rubles during that period. The article argues that this data not only reflects progress in law enforcement but also indicates that Russia has adopted a more clear dual approach to cryptocurrency assets: on one hand, it has strengthened domestic monitoring, and on the other hand, it continues to use cryptocurrency assets for cross-border settlements.
2,600 wallets have been put under monitoring system.
This system is primarily used by Russian banks and law enforcement agencies for compliance reviews, customer risk identification, and financial investigations. It cannot directly freeze wallets on the blockchain, but it does link relevant addresses to bank accounts, payment channels, and fiat currency deposit and withdrawal processes.
Once a wallet is listed on the list, Russian banks that handle related transactions will receive a notification and can take restrictive measures against the associated accounts. The Central Bank of Russia stated that in the first half of 2026, more than 500 payment records related to illegal financial activities were dealt with as a result.
During the same period, regulatory authorities also transferred relevant clues to law enforcement departments and the federal anti-monopoly bureau, leading to the initiation of over 330 administrative cases, and they restricted access to more than 11,800 websites suspected of engaging in illegal financial activities and Ponzi schemes.
Funding platforms still make extensive use of encrypted assets.
According to data disclosed by the Russian Central Bank, encrypted assets remain the most common method of receiving funds in local financial scams. In the first half of 2026, over 74% of the identified Ponzi schemes used encrypted assets to attract funds, which is lower than the 84% in 2025, but they still dominate.
The article mentions that the form of such projects is also changing. In the early days, what was common were meme coins and click-to-profit games. Nowadays, they are more often packaged as pseudo-investment projects, claiming to allow investment in crypto assets, mining farms, data centers, or the purchase of digital tokens linked to gold prices.
By channel, these projects were promoted through over 940 websites, 120 Telegram channels, and more than 2,500 social media pages. In 2024, the Russian Central Bank identified over 3,490 entities with characteristics of Ponzi schemes. In 2025, more than 4,600 cryptocurrency wallets were marked as receiving such funds. By the first half of 2026, the number of wallets had decreased to 2,600, and the number of related entities to 2,891.
Strict internal control, continue to use externally
The article argues that what is more noteworthy is the parallel state of Russian policy. By the end of 2024, Russia had legalized cross-border payments using crypto assets, allowing enterprises to use digital assets for international trade settlements in order to bypass SWIFT and the Western banking system. Subsequently, in 2025 and 2026, these arrangements continued to expand, and Russian officials repeatedly described crypto assets as a tool for maintaining trade flows with China, India, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
In parallel with this, the Russian Central Bank continues to expand its crypto monitoring system domestically. Based on this, the article argues that Russia does not simply accept or reject crypto assets, but rather treats them differently depending on the flow of funds: usage is permitted in cases involving export settlements, while restrictions are tightened in situations related to domestic capital flows, taxation, and fraud risks.
The article also compares this practice with that of China and India, suggesting that these countries are all strengthening their digital finance surveillance while maintaining or promoting cross-border digital settlement capabilities.
USDT Rising borrowing demand
The Russian Central Bank's data also revealed a detail: in illegal lending activities, more transactions are now directly denominated in USDT. In the first half of 2026, 999 illegal lending institutions were identified, doubling from 467 in the same period of the previous year.
These lending services usually provide borrowers with USDT, or convert it into rubles at the agreed exchange rate for disbursement. The repayment conditions are linked to the exchange rate of USDT. The article suggests that this reflects the desire of some Russian users to continue accessing financial products denominated in US dollars, and under the constraints of sanctions and bank restrictions, stablecoins have become one of the alternative channels.
The Russian Central Bank attributes part of the increase in illegal lending to stricter requirements for formal lending, making it more difficult for highly indebted borrowers to obtain traditional credit, which has led them to turn to off-chain or grey crypto lending markets.
