Crypto Transactions In Russia Nearly Reach IDR 199 Trillion

Bitcoin transactions in Russia skyrocket. (Photo; Doc. Coindoo)

JAKARTA - The circulation of crypto assets in Russia is increasing without any comprehensive regulation, as stated by the Director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring), Yury Chikhanchin.

In a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Chikhanchin reported that his services had monitored the activities of more than 25,000 participants in crypto transactions and had identified about a dozen financial organizations providing assistance to them.

At a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Chikhanchin reported to the head of state about the agency's current operations. Putin said that wherever money or new financial instruments arise, "trickers" will also emerge. However, Chikhanchin admits that the use of cryptocurrencies is increasing in Russia without any comprehensive regulations.

Cryptocurrency turnovers are currently more than 630,000 bitcoins with current exchange rates approaching 13 billion US dollars (approximately IDR 199.7 trillion) in fiat. "We believe that the current cryptocurrency turnover is more than 630,000 bitcoins," Chikanchin said.

In fact, according to estimates by the Bank of Russia in 2021, the annual volume of crypto transactions carried out by Russians at that time was only about 5 billion US dollars.

Rosfinmonitoring has conducted about 120 crypto-related investigations and started more than 60 criminal cases. The official explained that this was possible thanks to the launch of Russia's new 'Blockchain Transparan' platform. This service can track the movement of more than 20 different crypto assets. Crypto analytics tools are currently undergoing testing at the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Federal Security Service, and the Investigative Committee.

"A year ago, this service could only track bitcoin, but by using this system, you can see the movement of more than 20 different crypto assets," the official explained.

The Transparent Blockchain platform is also used in an effort to close the Hydra darknet market, as part of cooperation with law enforcement agencies and representatives of other countries' financial intelligence organizations. The website was closed in early April 2022, when German authorities seized its services in an operation carried out with US support. An administrator suspected of being a Russian citizen, Dmitry Pavlov, was arrested in the same month.