A Russian policymaker is calling on the Federal Assembly to regulate cryptocurrencies as a third of web traffic going into international crypto exchanges is seen to originate from Russia.

Yevgeny Masharov, a member of the Civic Chamber of the Commission for Public Review of Bills and Other Regulatory Acts, told RIA Novosti that the state must do more to police digital assets.

“We must launch legislation to regulate cryptocurrency circulation as soon as possible,” Masharov said. “All transactions outside [licensed platforms] need to be outlawed. We must introduce criminal liability for illegal cryptocurrency transactions.”

His call for stronger regulation comes as a combination of factors has driven Russians to adopt crypto.

“The combination of a weakening ruble, capital controls, and international sanctions has accelerated adoption,” Ari Redbord, the vice president and global head of policy and government affairs at the blockchain intelligence provider TRM Labs, told DL News. “This is both for legitimate financial access and, in some cases, for sanctions evasion.”

Redbord added that TRM’s data “shows that the vast majority of Russian crypto activity remains lawful,” and that the increase reflects a broader global trend where more people are turning to digital assets due to “necessity, innovation, and financial pressure.”

Telegram concerns

Crypto is a thorny political issue in Russia.

As things stand, crypto exchanges are completely unregulated in Russia. The Central Bank has previously called for a complete, China-style ban on crypto trading.

But the Ministry of Finance would prefer to regulate the industry and force traders to pay tax on their profits. This has led to a lengthy stand-off.

Masharov said that crypto trading in Russia must now be restricted to regulated financial bodies, such as the Moscow Exchange and the country’s largest banks.

Policymakers are concerned that the Telegram chat app, which is widely used in Russia, offers its users access to crypto wallet services.

This, Masharov said, allows all Russian citizens “to buy, sell, and invest digital currency directly from the app.”

And that removes these citizens’ financial activities from the scrutiny of the country’s regulators and anti-money laundering bodies, he warned.

‘Political risk’

Russian IP ($4.02) addresses accounted for up to 28% of traffic to the crypto exchange Bybit in October, according to data from the AI-powered digital intelligence provider Similarweb.

Bybit saw 17.5 million visits last month, 4.9 million of which originated from Russia, according to the data.

Russians also accounted for 16% of traffic to the HTX ($0.00) platform and 5% of Gate visitors. In total, at least 6 million Russians visited these overseas exchanges in October, RBC wrote.

Meanwhile, a survey from the financial marketplace operator Vyberu found that 10% of Russians want to invest in crypto, Russian media outlet Finansy reported.

Over a third of this group said they thought crypto could grant them “independence from the banking system or political risk.” And 30% said that the ability to trade crypto at any time, from anywhere in the world, drew them to coins.

But despite their confidence, only 3% to 5% of the survey’s 2,500 respondents admitted to owning crypto.

Tim Alper is a news correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email at tdalper@dlnews.com.