Key Points
Russian cryptocurrency holdings on centralized exchanges are still worth billions, despite a nearly 16% decrease from March’s figures.
This is according to the latest report from the Bank of Russia.
The bank’s data reveals that Russians held $6.8 billion in crypto on centralized exchanges.
This represents a 15.8% decline from March.
However, Bitcoin (BTC) remains the dominant asset, making up 69% of total holdings.
It is followed by Ethereum (ETH) at 21% and stablecoins at 10%.
Market Activity and Crypto Interest
The bank notes that the decline in exchange balances aligns with decreased market activity.
It highlights that recent months have seen a reduction in trading volumes.
Despite this, Russian investors continue to be active in the broader crypto market.
Web traffic to crypto exchanges in Russia has increased by 56.5%, according to the central bank.
Russian users now account for 7.5% of global visits.
Additionally, crypto asset flows linked to Russian investors have increased by 18%, reaching 4.8 trillion rubles (approximately $50 billion) in Q3.
The bank’s report also discusses meme coins.
It states that while these assets have gained popularity, they are not considered significant drivers of large-scale investment.
The report reads, “Memecoins and similar mini-apps attract new users to the crypto asset market, but given the market capitalization of these projects relative to the broader crypto market, they do not serve as a significant channel for the inflow of substantial funds from citizens.”
This report was published shortly after MegaFon, one of Russia’s largest telecom companies, reported an 8% increase in web traffic to crypto exchanges.
This rise was driven by increasing Bitcoin prices and changes in local regulations.
The increase reflects a global trend, with web traffic to the top 20 crypto exchanges increasing by 8% to 10% in November compared to October.
MegaFon’s data shows that exchanges like Deribit saw a 126% increase in visits in early November.
Other platforms, including HTX (formerly Huobi) and KuCoin, saw traffic increase by 24% and 23%, respectively.
Conversely, exchanges such as Gate.io, Upbit, and Kraken saw declines in web traffic during the same period.