The Bank of Russia has added 2,600 cryptocurrency wallets to a monitoring database used by banks and law enforcement after more than 1 billion rubles was routed to the addresses in the first half of 2026. The regulator said the wallets were connected to suspected illegal financial activity and are now part of a system used in client risk checks and financial investigations.
The move came during a broader crackdown on suspected unlawful finance. In the same six-month period, the central bank identified 2,891 entities showing signs of illegal financial activity, a figure it said was nearly 31% lower than in the first half of 2025.
How the monitoring system is being used
According to the central bank, the flagged wallets were entered into a database that helps financial institutions assess transactions tied to entities the regulator has marked as suspicious. The reported 1 billion rubles refers to the ruble value of crypto attracted through the identified addresses.
The Bank of Russia said it also shares information on suspected illegal financial activity with law enforcement agencies, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and other authorized bodies. During the first half of 2026, banks imposed restrictive measures on more than 500 payment details that had been used for illegal financial activity.
Enforcement actions expanded beyond wallet tracking
The regulator said material it supplied led to more than 330 administrative cases during the reporting period, including cases based in part on information gathered in earlier periods. Authorities also carried out more than 450 other enforcement measures.
In addition, access was restricted to more than 11,800 online resources linked to suspected illegal financial market participants and pyramid schemes, showing that the crackdown extended well beyond payment infrastructure alone.
Crypto remained a frequent tool in pyramid schemes
The Bank of Russia said cryptocurrencies continued to be a common funding method among the schemes it tracked. More than 74% of the identified pyramid schemes used crypto to attract funds, while the remainder relied on foreign payment services or cash.
To draw users into these projects, organizers used a wide online footprint in the first six months of the year, including more than 940 websites, 120 Telegram channels and over 2,500 social media pages, according to the regulator.
Tighter rules are arriving as the market is formalized
The enforcement push comes as Russia moves to place more crypto activity within licensed financial institutions while keeping domestic crypto payments restricted. A law approved this summer set rules for exchanges, brokers, custodians and other intermediaries, with the Bank of Russia assigned to supervise the market.
That framework allows regulated cryptocurrency activity and certain cross-border uses but keeps the ban on using crypto as a domestic means of payment. Before the new regime takes effect, the central bank has published draft operating rules for crypto exchanges and digital asset depositories, including capital requirements and official registers for licensed participants.
The regulated market rollout is scheduled for September. Separately, Russian authorities have continued acting against crypto businesses suspected of operating outside permitted channels. In August, more than 20 people were detained after raids on nine crypto exchanges in Moscow, where investigators alleged the services had converted proceeds from scams into cryptocurrency before sending the assets to handlers in Ukraine.
Source: crypto.news