Brett (brett) 
Russian Crypto Holdings on Centralized Exchanges Remain Valuable Despite Volatility
The Bank of Russia has released its latest report, revealing that Russian individuals still hold significant amounts of cryptocurrency on centralized exchanges, despite a nearly 16% decline in their holdings compared to March.
The central bank’s data shows that Russians have $6.8 billion in crypto on centralized exchanges, representing a 15.8% decline from March. Despite this drop, Bitcoin remains the dominant asset, accounting for 69% of total holdings, followed by Ethereum at 21%, and stablecoins at 10%.
The decline in exchange balances coincides with lower market activity, according to the central bank, which notes that recent months have seen reduced trading volumes.
However, the report also highlights that Russian investors remain active in the broader crypto market. Web traffic to crypto exchanges in Russia grew by 56.5% in the period, with Russian users now representing 7.5% of global visits.
Additionally, crypto asset flows linked to Russian investors rose by 18%, reaching 4.8 trillion rubles (approximately $50 billion) in Q3.
The Bank of Russia has also taken note of the growing popularity of meme coins, stating that while they may attract new users to the crypto market, they are not seen as a significant channel for substantial investment.
“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,” the central bank said.
Market Activity and Regulatory Environment
The report comes shortly after MegaFon, one of Russia’s largest telecom companies, reported an 8% surge in web traffic to crypto exchanges, driven by rising Bitcoin prices and changes in local regulations.
The increase in web traffic to crypto exchanges mirrors a global trend, with the top 20 crypto exchanges seeing an 8% to 10% increase in visits in November compared to October.
Exchanges like Deribit saw a 126% jump in visits in early November, while others, such as HTX (formerly Huobi) and KuCoin, saw traffic increase by 24% and 23%, respectively.
During the same period, exchanges such as Gate.io, Upbit, and Kraken experienced declines in web traffic, the data shows.
Key Takeaways
- Russian individuals still hold significant amounts of cryptocurrency on centralized exchanges, despite a decline in their holdings.
- Bitcoin remains the dominant asset, accounting for 69% of total holdings.
- Russian investors remain active in the broader crypto market, with web traffic to crypto exchanges growing by 56.5%.
- Meme coins may attract new users, but are not seen as a significant channel for substantial investment.
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