Bank of Russia Adds 2,600 Crypto Wallets to Illegal-Finance Intelligence System

The Bank of Russia has published its review of illegal activity in the financial market for the first half of 2026, including new data on cryptocurrency use in suspected illegal financial schemes and the measures taken by banks and law-enforcement authorities.

From January to June 2026, the central bank identified 2,891 companies, projects, individual entrepreneurs and other entities showing signs of illegal financial-market activity. This included 929 suspected financial pyramids, 999 illegal lenders, 557 entities showing signs of illegal securities-market activity and 379 projects involving illegal investment solicitation.

2,600 crypto wallets added to compliance and investigation system

The Bank of Russia said it added information on approximately 2,600 cryptocurrency wallets associated with entities showing signs of illegal activity to an information system used by law-enforcement agencies and banks for digital compliance, client risk assessment and financial investigations. More than RUB 1 billion in funds had been attracted to these wallets during the period.

Cryptocurrency remained particularly prominent among suspected pyramid schemes. The regulator said more than 74% of identified financial pyramids used cryptocurrency to attract funds, while the remainder primarily relied on foreign payment services or cash. Organisers also used more than 940 websites, around 120 Telegram channels and over 2,500 social-media pages to attract participants.

Banks applied AML restrictions to more than 500 payment details

The regulator said banks applied restrictive measures to more than 500 payment details linked to illegal financial activity during the first half of 2026. The Bank of Russia recommends that credit institutions apply anti-money-laundering measures, including restrictions on account operations where appropriate, when companies appear on its list of entities showing signs of illegal financial-market activity.

Authorities also restricted access to more than 11,800 online resources linked to illegal financial operators and suspected financial pyramids, while more than 330 administrative cases were initiated based on information provided by the regulator.

The data illustrates how cryptocurrency-wallet intelligence is increasingly being integrated into conventional bank compliance and financial-investigation systems rather than treated as a separate monitoring channel.