Russia Says Crypto Investors Will Bear Losses if Foreign Issuers Freeze Their Assets

• Russia says crypto investors may bear losses if a foreign issuer blocks their assets for reasons beyond the control of a Russian digital depository.
• The warning comes as Russia builds its regulated crypto market, with officials estimating around $44 billion in crypto holdings among Russian users.

Russian cryptocurrency investors will have to “bear the losses” if foreign stablecoin issuers freeze their assets for reasons outside the control of Russian digital asset depositories, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov said as the country moves ahead with its new crypto market framework.

The warning mainly concerns foreign-issued stablecoins such as Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC, whose issuers can restrict specific addresses under certain legal or regulatory circumstances. Chebeskov said a Russian digital depository would be responsible for problems within its own custody, accounting or transfer operations, but would not automatically compensate investors for restrictions imposed by a foreign issuer.

The issue is significant given the size of Russia’s crypto market. Chebeskov said about 20 million Russians use cryptocurrencies, while their combined holdings are estimated at around 3.7 trillion rubles, or roughly $44 billion. He also put the country’s average daily crypto transaction volume at about 50 billion rubles, equivalent to nearly $600 million. The estimate includes direct crypto holdings as well as some crypto-linked financial products.