According to the Bank of Russia, investment by Russian citizens in domestic crypto derivatives is increasing, but does not pose a risk to the country's financial system.
Most individual investors maintain relatively small portfolios, with most of the trading volume coming from a few large participants in emerging markets, the regulator's investigation found.
Russian households have invested 3.7 billion rubles in cryptocurrency derivatives since May
According to estimates by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), household investment in crypto-based derivative products in Russia amounts to approximately 3.7 billion rubles (approximately $47.3 million).
The monetary authority published figures for the second and third quarters of 2025 in its regular report on the situation in Russian financial markets.
The current level of such investments, which were allowed earlier this year, does not pose a systemic risk, according to the latest version of the bank's Financial Stability Review.
A portion of the total amount is represented by Russian bonds, the yield of which is linked to the value of digital assets, the study authors further elaborate, saying:
“The amount invested in such bonds by individuals and non-profit organizations providing services to the population amounted to 1.6 billion rubles as of the beginning of October.The outstanding amount of bonds issued in terms of face value is only 2.9 billion rubles.”
Investments in virtual currency futures contracts held by individuals on Russia's largest stock market, the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), are also minimal, the central bank said.
Documents cited by Russian news agency Interfax on Thursday revealed that as of early last month, the net position amount in the case amounted to 2.1 billion rubles (about $27 million).
The majority of the 1,900 investors trading crypto futures have small portfolios of up to 500,000 rubles (about $6,400), CBR noted.
At the same time, the Bank of Russia emphasized that the main contributors to the overall investment volume are a small number of large companies, whose open positions exceed 100 million rubles (approximately $1.28 million).
Russian trading volume on foreign virtual currency exchanges decreases
Banks of Russia have gradually become more open to investing in cryptocurrencies this year. In March, regulators proposed an “experimental legal regime” (ELR) for crypto trading.
The deal allowed Russian companies to bypass sanctions and make cross-border payments, and gave a small number of “highly qualified” investors access to crypto assets and their derivatives.
In May, authorities allowed Russian financial companies to offer derivative products to investors in the same category that track foreign crypto funds and indexes, and more recently added products directly linked to digital currencies, with plans to allow mutual funds to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Discussions recently began with the Ministry of Finance in Moscow about allowing more investors into the country's young crypto derivatives market by easing requirements that currently impose high standards on annual income and other investments.
Meanwhile, the CBR also established that the trading volume on foreign virtual currency exchanges by Russian citizens decreased by 18% in the second and third quarters of 2025 compared to the previous two quarters, business news agency RBC noted in a report on the findings of the Financial Stability Assessment.
The average monthly balance of Russian funds on more than a dozen popular crypto trading platforms, including global giants such as Binance and Bybit, fell by 20% during the survey period to 933 billion rubles.
The bulk of the total, worth around $12 billion, was made up of Bitcoin (BTC) with 62%, followed by Ethereum (ETH) with 16% and other coins with 22%.
At the same time, Russian traffic to these websites fell by 28% to 83.4 million visits. Bank of Russia notes that Russia's share remains unchanged at 4.2%, and that this decline is in line with global trends.
As Russia's main financial regulator continues to strongly oppose the legalization of the free circulation of decentralized digital money in the country's economy, the possibility of cryptocurrency transactions of this scale on domestic exchanges remains very remote.
