According to the Kremlin, Russians would own 16.5 trillion rubles worth of crypto-currencies, or $214 billion. This value represents about 12% of the market capitalization of crypto-assets.
Russian indecision about crypto-currencies
Earlier in January, we learned that Russia’s central bank wanted to ban investments in crypto-assets on its territory. This was without counting on Vladimir Putin, who called for dialogue last week arguing the country’s competitive advantages regarding bitcoin mining.
In the face of this controversial debate, the latest Kremlin study reported by Bloomberg supports the strategic position that the Russians play in the crypto-currency ecosystem.
Indeed, the value of crypto-currencies held by Russians would amount to 16,500 billion rubles. Converted into dollars this represents 214 billion, or 12% of the crypto market capitalization, a sobering value from a decentralization perspective.
These figures are even more important when compared to the country’s benchmark stock market index: the MOEX. In fact, the data previously announced represents a third of the capitalization of the MOEX.
Of course, it is not easy to attest to the accuracy of these figures, but it does give us an idea. According to two members of the Kremlin who wished to remain anonymous, this study is based on an analysis of IP addresses of users of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
We can therefore imagine that a part of the population could have gone under the radar, for example by using a VPN in order to prevent possible bans in the image of the Chinese neighbor.
Russia 2ᵉ in number of people owning crypto assets
According to a study by Triple A, a Singapore-based crypto-asset payment company, an estimated 17.3 million Russians own crypto-currencies. This amounts to 11.91% of the population, which ranks the country as 2ᵉ worldwide behind Ukraine (12.73%).
If the same study is to be believed, France would be the leading country in the European Union with 3.34% of the population, which would rank it 20th.
Unsurprisingly, the dominant age group of 60% of Russian investors is 25 – 44 years old. This reminds us of a study conducted by CryptoCheck in collaboration with Cryptoast and Just-Mining among 3,000 respondents. It was reported that 67% of French investors were between 20 and 39 years old.
Although probably underestimated, these figures show how important Russia is in our ecosystem. Future regulations, whether smart or punitive, are likely to have a short-term impact on the market, so this will be something to watch carefully.
