Russian pension fund flooded with crypto inquiries as mining revenue debate heats up
Crypto journalist
Anas Hasan
Crypto journalist
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Russia's Social Fund received about 37 million calls by 2025, with crypto-related questions among the most popular questions alongside more common social benefit questions.
According to a local report, citizens wanted to know whether pensions can be paid in digital assets and whether mining income can be counted in social benefit calculations, to explain to the officials that all state payments remain only in rubles, while crypto tax falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Tax Service.
The unusual volume of crypto inquiries reflects Russia's growing crypto appetite, where mining currently generates roughly 1 billion rubles a day and regulatory frameworks continue to take shape ahead of mid-2026 implementation deadlines.
Mining revenue recognition increases political activity
Last month, top Kremlin official Maxim Orshkin pushed to classify crypto mining as an export activity in Russia's official trade accounts, arguing that mined digital assets are effectively exported even if they don't cross physical borders.
At the Russia Call investment forum, Oreshkin called mining “a new export item”, Russia “doesn't value it very well,” these transactions have an impact on the foreign exchange market and the balance of payments outside of normal statistics.
Industry estimates support the recognition of his case, Social Fund “Many people are interested in knowing whether it is possible to receive a pension in cryptocurrency and whether mining income should be taken into account when calculating social benefits.”
The experts of the fund “politely explained that all payments from the SFR will be made in rubles only, and the tax on digital assets will fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Tax Service.”
Russian mining operations accounted for more than 16% of global hashrate last year, the second highest globally, and corporate operations now face 25% tax rates after legalization in November 2024.
Shortly after Oreshkin, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina acknowledged that mining would contribute to the ruble's strength, but stressed that it was difficult to measure the effect because significant parts of the industry operate in gray areas.
Despite its legality, the Federal Tax Service requires registration of legal entities and domestic miners over 6,000 kilowatts. Despite liberating using less per hour, illegal operations continue to cost Russia billions each year in stolen electricity and unpaid taxes.
A regulated marketing infrastructure takes shape
Late last month, the Moscow Exchange and the St. Petersburg Exchange confirmed that they are ready to start crypto trading after the Bank of Russia's December 23 regulatory proposal comes into force on July 1, 2026.
He emphasized that the St. Petersburg exchange already has the necessary technological infrastructure for trading and settlement, while the Moscow exchange is actively working on solutions to serve the cryptocurrency market.
A regulatory framework also divides market access fairly among classes of investors.
Unqualified investors face an annual purchase cap of 300,000 rubles through individual intermediaries, limited to liquid cryptocurrencies on the specified lists after passing mandatory knowledge tests, qualified investors do not face any size limit, but must demonstrate risk awareness and cannot purchase anonymous tokens that hide transaction information.
Russia recorded $376.3 billion in crypto transaction volume between July 2024 and June 2025, surpassing the United Kingdom's $273.2 billion to become Europe's largest crypto market by transaction volume.
High-volume transfers of more than $10 million grew 86 percent in the period, nearly double the 44 percent growth across Europe, and increased eight-fold in early 2025 before stabilizing at three-and-a-half times in mid-2023.
The banking sector embraces digital assets
Also in December, Russia's largest lender Sberbank announced that it will now offer regulated crypto-related investments totaling 1.5 billion rubles of structured bonds and digital financial assets tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum and broader crypto portfolios.
Vice Chairman Anatoly Popov confirmed active dialogue with the Bank of Russia and Rosfinmonitoring as they build a proprietary blockchain infrastructure for issuing and managing digital financial assets.
Meanwhile, earlier today, it was confirmed that asset token platform Hadron had been trademarked in Russia after Tether was registered in October 2025, while Rospatent approved its application for trademark protection in January 2026 until October 2035.
The brand covers blockchain-based financial services, crypto trading and exchange, crypto payment processing and related advisory services, as Tether USDT is the world's third largest crypto asset with a market capitalization of nearly $187 billion.
Despite the adoption and expansion of infrastructure, State Duma committee chairman Anatoly Aksakov recently strengthened the payment restrictions, declaring that cryptocurrencies “will never be money in our country” and only work as investment instruments that require all domestic payments in rubles.
The regulators are now preparing a strict crypto regulatory framework and new penalties this year.
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