The use of cryptocurrencies is increasing in Russia, the head of the country’s financial monitoring agency has informed President Putin. The agency, Rosfinmonitoring, is tracking thousands of participants in digital asset transactions with a new blockchain analysis system, the official revealed.
Crypto Trading Volume in Russia Almost $13 Billion, FSA Says
The turnover of crypto assets in Russia is increasing, according to Yury Chikhanchin, head of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) and who briefed President Vladimir Putin on the agency’s current operations.
The watchdog service monitors the activities of more than 25,000 participants in crypto trading, the official said in a meeting with the head of state. The service has also identified about a dozen financial organizations that provide assistance to them.
Quoted by business news portal RBC, Putin said that where money and new financial products appear, “scammers” also appear.Chikhanchin acknowledged the growing use of cryptocurrencies in Russia in the absence of comprehensive regulation.
“We believe that the volume of cryptocurrency transactions today is over 630,000 bitcoins,” he elaborated without elaborating. At current rates, that amountof BTCapproaches $13 billion in Fiat equivalents; according to estimates cited by the Bank of Russia in 2021, the annual volume of crypto transactions made by Russians at that time was around $5 billion.
Rosfinmonitoring has conducted about 120 crypto-related investigations and opened more than 60 criminal cases; Chikhanchin noted that this was possible thanks to the launch of a new Russian “transparent blockchain” platform.
“A year ago, this service could only track bitcoin, but with this system you can see the movement of more than 20 different crypto assets.” explained the official. The crypto-analysis tool is currently being tested by the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Security Service, and the Investigative Committee. Other countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States have expressed interest in obtaining it.
Transparent Blockchain has been employed in efforts to shut down the darknet market Hydra in cooperation with law enforcement agencies and representatives of other countries’ financial intelligence agencies.
The website was shut down in early April 2022 after German authorities seized its services in an operation supported by the United States. The alleged administrator, Russian national Dmitry Pavlov, was arrested later that month.
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