The Bank of Russia has added 2,600 cryptocurrency wallets to its blacklist after detecting more than 1 billion rubles’ worth of inflows to those addresses in the first half of 2026, the central bank said — a move aimed at helping banks and law enforcement spot and block suspected financial crime. What happened - The regulator flagged 2,600 crypto addresses tied to companies, projects, individual entrepreneurs and other entities showing signs of illegal activity. Those wallets were uploaded into a digital compliance system used by banks, investigators and other authorized bodies for client risk checks and financial probes. - In total, the Bank of Russia identified 2,891 entities displaying signs of illegal financial activity in H1 2026 — roughly 31% fewer than in the same period last year and close to levels seen in H2 2025. Enforcement and follow-up - The central bank shares its findings with law enforcement, the Federal Antimonopoly Service and other agencies. During H1 2026 banks blocked more than 500 payment details linked to illicit activity. - Regulatory work spawned over 330 administrative cases based on Bank of Russia material, plus more than 450 other enforcement steps. Authorities also restricted access to more than 11,800 online resources tied to suspected market abusers and pyramid schemes. Crypto’s role in scams - Crypto remains a primary funding method for fraud: 74% of pyramid schemes identified in H1 used cryptocurrencies to draw in money; the rest relied on foreign payment services or cash. - Organizers used a broad online toolkit to recruit victims — more than 940 websites, 120 Telegram channels and over 2,500 social-media pages during the first six months of the year. - By comparison, the bank identified more than 4,600 crypto wallets linked to pyramid-scheme organizers in 2025, when 84% of such schemes accepted crypto (up from 77% in 2024). Types of pseudo-investment scams - The Bank of Russia says many fraudulent or borderline projects pitched crypto exposure or promised earnings from mining. Schemes included offers to invest in data centers allegedly supplying hashing power and tokens claimed to track gold prices. - In H1 2026 the regulator found 929 entities with pyramid-like activity and 379 suspected of illegally attracting investments; together these pseudo-investment schemes fell 44% from the same period in 2025. - Meanwhile, illegal lending surged. Identified unlicensed lenders roughly doubled to 999 in H1 2026 (up from 467 a year earlier). The central bank links part of that rise to tighter rules for legal lenders that left some borrowers shut out of the formal market. - “Crypto loans” — loans denominated in USDT or in rubles converted at a set exchange rate — remained a recurring complaint. Regulators say they repeatedly block websites linked to such offerings, although fraudsters often spin up duplicates. Regulatory shift toward a regulated crypto market - Russia is moving to channel crypto activity into licensed financial institutions while keeping a ban on using cryptocurrency as a domestic payment method. A law passed this summer sets rules for exchanges, brokers, custodians and other intermediaries, with the Bank of Russia in charge of supervision. - Ahead of a regulated market rollout scheduled for September, the central bank published draft operating rules for exchanges and digital-asset depositories, including capital requirements and registries of licensed participants. Ongoing enforcement and fraud campaigns - Authorities have been aggressive in enforcement. In August more than 20 people were detained after raids on nine Moscow crypto exchanges; investigators allege some services converted scam proceeds into cryptocurrency and forwarded assets to handlers in Ukraine. - Fraudsters continue to exploit consumer demand and pop culture. Cybersecurity firm F6 reported a recent campaign that used fake ticket sites and Telegram bots to target Russians seeking Kanye West concert tickets. At least 10 domains and seven Telegram bots were tied to the scheme; some pages let users pick seats but then asked for payment in crypto or phone-number transfers — classic red flags since such payments are hard to reverse. - Scammers have also impersonated established institutions in crypto-themed schemes. The Moscow Exchange, by contrast, has been expanding legitimate crypto-linked products domestically: in May it added Solana, XRP, Tron and BNB indexes to existing Bitcoin and Ethereum benchmarks for professional investors, with plans to extend the list and explore futures — though direct crypto trading still isn’t part of its offering. Why this matters The Bank of Russia’s database and blacklisting effort underscore how integral crypto has become to both fraud operations and regulators’ responses. For banks, prosecutors and consumers in Russia, the message is clear: crypto remains a favored channel for scams, enforcement is intensifying, and the new regulatory framework will reshape what parts of the market are allowed to operate publicly and under supervision. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news