Putin Adviser Calls to Add Crypto to Russia’s Accounts: A Bold Move for Financial Sovereignty
Russia's financial playbook just got a crypto chapter. A top adviser to Vladimir Putin is pushing to integrate digital assets directly into the nation's balance sheets—a maneuver that could redraw the lines of global economic power.
The Strategic Pivot
Forget sidelining crypto as a speculative toy. This proposal treats Bitcoin and its peers as strategic reserve assets. It's a direct challenge to dollar dominance, leveraging blockchain's borderless nature to bypass traditional sanctions choke-points. The calculus is simple: digital gold for a digital age, held outside the reach of foreign regulators.
Finance's New Frontier
The move signals a tectonic shift. Nations aren't just hodling—they're institutionalizing. Adding crypto to national accounts legitimizes the asset class at a sovereign level, potentially triggering a domino effect. Other resource-rich nations, watching their FX reserves get politicized, might just follow suit. It turns every crypto wallet into a potential micro-treasury.
Of course, Wall Street veterans will scoff—calling it a desperate gambit by a sanctioned state. But then again, they said the same thing about the internet. Sometimes the 'desperate' move today becomes the standard playbook tomorrow. Watch this space; the old financial guard isn't just being disrupted—it's being strategically outflanked.
Mining becomes a major “hidden export”
Russia’s crypto mining industry has quietly become one of the world’s largest, and officials say it is now too big to overlook.
According to Oreshkin, mining generates “enormous sums” that function like an export: miners create digital currency inside Russia and then sell it abroad or use it to pay for goods. Because these earnings are not recorded anywhere, he said they should be included in official economic statistics.
Industry figures back up his comments. Russia is responsible for nearly 16% of global Bitcoin (BTC) mining power, second only to the U.S. Miners in the country produced about 55,000 Bitcoin in 2023 and around 35,000 in 2024, with the drop linked to Bitcoin’s halving event.
Some analysts estimate that mining revenues reach roughly 1 billion rubles (around $12.9 million) every day. Total investments in data centers, power infrastructure, and equipment may already exceed 100 billion rubles.
Push to regulate a once-untrusted sector
After years of doubt, Russian authorities are starting to officially include crypto in the economy. Mining became legal on November 1, 2024. The government has set rules that require companies to register with the tax service and report income from mining or crypto transactions.
In October this year, the central bank and the Ministry of Finance decided to recognize cryptocurrency payments as a valid form of international trade under a controlled “experimental legal regime.” However, the details are still kept secret because of sanctions.
Still, the industry faces obstacles. Several regions are facing full mining bans from January 2025 to 2031, including Dagestan, Chechnya, North Ossetia, and parts of the newly annexed territories. On the other hand, other areas like Irkutsk and Buryatia will apply seasonal restrictions during the winter months to protect overloaded power grids.
Experts say the sector still operates partly in the “gray zone.” They argue that Russia needs clearer rules for mining companies, better tax collection, and even an amnesty for miners who previously imported equipment illegally. Industry advisers also want specific regulations for mining pools and improved business standards to bring the sector fully above board.
Meanwhile, Russia has begun using cryptocurrency for cross-border trade under the confidential legal regime, with the central bank now overseeing such payments as Moscow looks for alternatives amid sanctions.
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