In his view, cryptocurrencies are currently not considered a mainstream topic, as there is no substantial discussion about regulation at the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Digital Development. Instead, the issue is being raised by individual deputies, resulting in a sluggish situation. Gorelkin angrily states:
“What is happening today is that without regulation of cryptocurrencies, we are simply providing peace of mind to the central bank.”
Gorelkin points out a discrepancy between the statistics provided by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. While the Central Bank claims that there are hardly any users of crypto wallets in Russia, data from the Ministry of Finance suggests that Russians possess tens of millions of crypto wallets. This implies that many market participants operate within a gray zone, outside the boundaries of the law, which ultimately leads to the emergence of semi-legal schemes, according to the parliamentarian.
Recently, a crypto journalist using the pseudonym Wu Blockchain noted that in December 2023, Russia accounted for 19% of the total traffic on the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Russians represented the highest number of visitors on platforms such as Bybit, MEXC, and HTX. Despite Binance, the largest crypto exchange, leaving the country, Bybit has remained a popular choice among Russians for several months.