Cryptocurrency turnover grows in Russia, Watchdog reports to Putin – Bitcoin News

The use of cryptocurrencies is increasing in Russia, the head of the country’s financial watchdog has informed President Putin. The agency, Rosfinmonitoring, is monitoring thousands of participants in digital asset transactions with a new blockchain analysis system, the official revealed.

Volume of crypto transactions in Russia Almost 13 billion dollars, says the financial authority

The turnover of cryptoassets in Russia is growing, according to Yury Chikhanchin, director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring), who reported to President Vladimir Putin on the agency’s current operations.

The watchdog monitors the activities of over 25,000 participants in crypto transactions, the leader revealed at a meeting with the head of state. The service has also identified around a dozen financial organizations that provide assistance to them.

Quoted by business news portal RBC, Putin said that wherever money or new financial instruments appear, “swindlers” also appear. Chikhanchin admitted that the use of cryptocurrency is increasing in Russia in the absence of comprehensive regulation.

“We believe that the turnover of cryptocurrency today is more than 630,000 bitcoins,” he said without elaborating. At today’s rates, this amount of BTC is approaching $13 billion in fiat equivalents. According to an estimate cited by the Bank of Russia in 2021, the annual volume of crypto transactions made by Russians at that time was around $5 billion.

Rosfin monitoring has carried out approx. 120 crypto-related investigations and initiated over 60 criminal cases. Chikhanchin pointed out that this was possible thanks to the launch of Russia’s new “Transparent Blockchain” platform.

“A year ago, the service could only track bitcoin, but using this system, you can see the movements of more than 20 different cryptoassets,” the official explained. The cryptanalysis tool is currently undergoing tests at the Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Security Service and the Investigative Committee. Other countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States have shown interest in getting it.

Transparent Blockchain was used in the effort to shut down the darknet market Hydra, as part of the cooperation with law enforcement agencies and representatives of financial intelligence organizations from other nations.

The site was taken down in early April 2022, when German authorities seized its services in an operation carried out with American support. An alleged administrator, Russian national Dmitry Pavlov, was arrested later that month.

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Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.