Over 80% of financial pyramids in Russia have switched to cryptocurrencies

In the first half of 2025, the Bank of Russia identified 2,328 financial pyramids, more than 80% of which used cryptocurrencies as the primary means of transferring funds. This is stated in the regulator's report.

The schemes were short-term pseudo-investment internet projects. Some guaranteed income from investments in digital currencies, while others were focused on precious metals, commodities, and various "innovative businesses."

The Central Bank noted an increase in fraudulent training courses on trading and earning from cryptocurrency price fluctuations. The main channel for attracting victims is social media.

There have been cases of issuing short-term loans in USDT stablecoins and subsequent aggressive debt collection.

At the same time, the number of fraudulent clicker games has decreased: 74 compared to 252 a year earlier. According to the report, this is related to "the audience's disappointment after the devaluation of tokens from one of the popular games."

In total, from January to June, the Central Bank identified 4,183 illegal entities, which is 20% higher than the figures for the same period in 2024.

Various "anti-money laundering" measures are applied to combat criminal activities, including restrictions on account operations. During the reporting period, law enforcement agencies and banks entered data on more than 1800 cryptocurrency wallets of entities engaged in illegal activities into the "Transparent Blockchain" system.

Recall that in the first quarter of 2025, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation identified 1,638 financial pyramids with crypto payments.