According to foreign sources, the Russian Central Bank added 2,600 encrypted wallets to the surveillance system in the first half of 2026 because of the influx of more than 1 billion roubles in the same period. According to the article, this set of data is not only about law enforcement progress, but also about a clearer two-track approach to encrypted assets: on the one hand, strengthening domestic controls and, on the other hand, continuing to use encrypted assets for cross-border settlement.
2600 wallets into the surveillance system
The system is used mainly by Russian banks and law enforcement agencies for compliance review, customer risk identification and financial investigations. It does not directly freeze wallets in the chain, but links the relevant addresses to bank accounts, payment routes and access to French currency.
Once a wallet is on the list, the Russian bank that handles the related transaction receives a reminder and may impose restrictions on the related account. According to the Central Bank of Russia, over 500 payments related to illegal financial activities had been disposed of in the first half of 2026.
During the same period, the regulators also referred the relevant leads to law enforcement authorities and the Federal Antimonopoly Office, which facilitated more than 330 administrative cases and restricted access to more than 1.18 million web resources suspected of illegal financial activities and funds.
Funds are still heavily using encrypted assets
According to data disclosed by the Russian Central Bank, encrypted assets remain the most common method of collection for local financial fraud. In the first half of 2026, more than 74 per cent of the identified portfolio projects used encrypted assets to attract funds, although below 84 per cent in 2025, still dominate.
It is mentioned that the form of such projects is also changing. Earlier, when meme coins and click-for-profit games were common, they are now more packaged as pseudo-investment projects, claiming to invest in encrypted assets, mines, data centres, or to buy digital tokens linked to gold prices.
By channel, these projects are promoted through over 940 websites, 120 Telegram channels and over 2,500 social media pages. In 2024, the Central Bank of Russia identified more than 34,490 entities with a fund balance feature, and in 2025, more than 4,600 encrypted wallets were marked as receiving the funds, and in the first half of 2026 the number of wallets fell to 2600 and the number of entities concerned to 2891.
It's strictly controlled. It's still in use.
According to the article, the parallel state of Russian policy deserves more attention. By the end of 2024, Russia had legalized cross-border payments of encrypted assets, allowing enterprises to use digital assets for international trade settlement in order to circumvent SWIFT and the Western banking system. Since then, to 2025 and 2026, the arrangements have continued to expand and Russian officials have repeatedly described encrypted assets as a tool for maintaining trade flows between China, India and Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
In parallel, the Russian Central Bank has continued to expand its encryption surveillance system in the country. According to this article, Russia does not simply accept or exclude encrypted assets, but treats them differently according to the flow of funds: they are allowed to be used when dealing with export settlements, and they reinforce restrictions when it comes to the risk of domestic capital flows, taxes and fraud.
The article also compares this approach with China and India, arguing that several countries are strengthening their own digital financial controls while retaining or promoting cross-border digital settlement capabilities.
USDT borrowing demand rising
This Central Bank of Russia data also discloses a detail: more operations have been directly denominated in USDT in illegal lending activities. In the first half of 2026, 999 illegal lending institutions were identified, up from 467 in the same period the previous year.
These lending services are usually provided to borrowers with USDT or converted to rubles at the agreed exchange rate, with repayment terms linked to the USDT exchange rate. According to the article, this reflects the continued desire of some Russian users to obtain United States dollar-denominated financial products, while the stabilization currency became one of the alternative channels under sanctions and bank restrictions.
The Russian Central Bank, for its part, attributed the increase in illegal lending to the tightening of formal lending requirements, which made it more difficult for highly indebted borrowers to access traditional credit and to move to the under-chain or grey encrypted lending market.