Russian crypto assets on foreign exchanges fell to 720 billion rubles, a 23% drop, as local investments in synthetic crypto instruments rise.
At the end of March, the total assets of Russian citizens on foreign centralized cryptocurrency exchanges dropped to 720 billion rubles, marking a 23% decline from the previous two quarters, according to the Central Bank of Russia's latest financial stability review.
Of this amount, 60% was held in Bitcoin, 8% in Ethereum, and 32% in other cryptocurrencies. Additionally, traffic from Russian users to foreign CEX platforms fell by 32%, amounting to 56.5 million visits during the same period.
Rise in Synthetic Investments
The central bank also reported a surge in investments in domestic financial instruments linked to cryptocurrency values, reaching about 3.8 billion rubles as of April 1. This includes 4.1 billion rubles in ETF-based bonds, with individuals and non-profits contributing 1.7 billion rubles, or 42% of the total. The report highlighted structured bonds tied to the iShares Bitcoin Trust and iShares Ethereum Trust from BlackRock, alongside futures on the Moscow Exchange for Bitcoin and Ethereum indices.
The net position of retail investors in cryptocurrency futures was estimated at 1.7 billion rubles, involving around 5,600 participants. Additionally, approximately 3,800 individuals invested a total of 354 million rubles in digital financial assets, while 271 individuals contributed 85.6 million rubles in synthetic crypto instruments through auto-follow strategies.
Declining BTC and ETH Prices
The review highlighted that the cryptocurrency market has not rebounded since a significant downturn in October 2025, contrasting with the stock market's recovery. By April 2026, Bitcoin's average price was $73,500, 36% lower than in October 2025, while Ethereum averaged $2,300, a drop of 45%.
The Central Bank attributed this decline to a shift towards traditional assets amid geopolitical tensions, expectations of more aggressive monetary policies from central banks, and miners selling off Bitcoin due to increasing production costs. The report also mentioned stablecoins, which have maintained a market capitalization of around $300 billion since October 2025, with transaction volumes reaching $1.5 trillion in March 2026.
Furthermore, a bill titled "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" was introduced, defining cryptocurrency as a monetary value for foreign trade and requiring transactions to be processed through licensed intermediaries. This bill has generated significant discussion regarding the management of wallets by digital depositories.
