Extraordinary, Crypto Transactions of Russian Citizens Will Reach IDR 812 Trillion in 2023

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – The Bank of Russia noted that Russian citizens made transactions worth USD 51 billion or the equivalent of IDR 812 trillion (assuming an exchange rate of IDR 15,922 per US dollar) in crypto throughout 2023.

Quoting from Bitcoin.comSunday (7/4/2024), according to the annual report issued by the bank, its investigation found volume flows equivalent to that amount, mainly in Bitcoin and Ether, attributed to Russian citizens in large exchanges.

The report also highlights that the volume of cryptocurrency transactions considered high risk by banks, such as p2p operations and settlements with shadow businesses, increased in 2023.

Bitcoin transaction volume in the first and second quarters of 2023 shows a decrease of 22.4% compared to the volume transacted in the same period during 2022. The bank stated that this is only transaction flow and cannot be interpreted as investment volume.

Nonetheless, the report sets Russian holdings in crypto exchanges to fall by 3.1% compared to 2022.

Reports of Russians holding large amounts of cryptocurrency are nothing new. In 2022, Bloomberg reported that authorities estimate that Russian citizens will own crypto worth USD 215 billion or the equivalent of IDR 3,423 trillion, motivating the government to draw up a roadmap to regulate this activity.

Then in 2023, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (Rosfinmonitoring) also warned about the high popularity of crypto in the country. At the time, Yury Chikhanchin, head of the service, reported cryptocurrency turnover of more than 630,000 bitcoins, without providing further details.

However, recently the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance met to determine what can and cannot be done with cryptocurrencies internally in Russia, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

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