Do 9 Million Russians Really Hold Crypto? Experts Divided
Petrov was responding to the findings of an earlier report from Triple A which claimed 9.2 million Russians own tokens
If correct, this would represent a rise of almost 6% in the number of Russian crypto holders. The report’s data shows that over 12% $of the total working-age population of the Russian Federation” holds coins
The state-run statistics agency Rosstat claimed recently that “76.235 million Russians are of working age
As such, this would indicate that roughly 12% of all of Russia’s workers own cryptoassets
However, not all experts agree. The Finam analyst Nikita Stepanov said he was “wary” of the claims
Stepanov explained that many crypto holders have multiple token wallets a fact that may have skewed the report’s findings.
Do Sanctions Drive More Russians to Crypto?
Western sanctions may have also artificially inflated the Russian crypto market, he opined. Stepanov explained:
Do Sanctions Drive More Russians to Crypto?
Western sanctions may have also artificially inflated the Russian crypto market, he opined. Stepanov explained:
“The trend toward the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies may affect the economy somewhat, but the effect is not large. Basically, the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia is largely limited to international transfers. [Russians have been using crypto] because it does not make use of traditional payment networks such as SWIFT And therefore [it is a means of bypassing] sanctions
Stepanov also said that Russian crypto interest was likely transitory The expert hinted the number of token holders would likely not climb much further above the current mark
He claimed that state efforts to launch a Russian CBDC would ultimately undermine crypto adoption Stepanov said:
“In the long term, it will be difficult for cryptocurrencies to become anything more than a ‘crutch’ for use in the remittances sector. The Russian state and the Central Bank are planning to spearhead the mass adoption of digital currencies
