Putin Adviser Demands Crypto in Russia’s Trade Data, Calls Bitcoin a “Hidden Export”

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Russia’s growing reliance on crypto is grabbing attention and the Kremlin now seems ready to acknowledge it.

Maxim Oreshkin, President Vladimir Putin’s top economic adviser, says digital assets have become a real part of Russia’s trade flows and should finally be counted in the country’s official balance-of-payments data.

He called Bitcoin mining an “undervalued export sector” that’s already shaping the foreign exchange market.

Crypto Payments Are Already in Russia’s Supply Chain

According to Oreshkin, the government’s current economic metrics are incomplete because crypto settlements happen outside conventional channels. That means a meaningful part of Russia’s import activity never appears in the data.

Russian firms can and do pay for imports with cryptocurrency, he said, and those flows influence the ruble just like any other trade payment.

Experts inside the country agree. Oleg Ogienko, CEO of Via Numeri, said crypto mining “already plays a significant role in Russia’s economy,” and it’s clear Moscow no longer sees the sector as experimental.

How Russia Became a Mining Powerhouse

While the Kremlin avoided public enthusiasm for years, Russia’s miners kept scaling. Luxor Technology estimates the country now controls about 15.5% of global Bitcoin hashrate, second only to the United States.

Production numbers underline that strength:

• 54,000 BTC mined in 2023
• 35,000 BTC mined in 2024, with the halving cutting output as expected.

Industry figures say mining revenues hover around $12.9 million per day, supported by more than $1.3 billion invested in hardware, energy, and data-center infrastructure.

That scale explains why Oreshkin calls the sector a “hidden export.” Mined Bitcoin is sold abroad, and those inflows look a lot like traditional export revenue.

Sanctions Pushed Crypto Into the Spotlight

Russian politicians have already stated that domestic firms used crypto to settle billions in cross-border trade as they navigated US and EU restrictions.

Now, the central bank and Ministry of Finance have agreed to legalize crypto payments for “foreign economic activity,” and Moscow is running a confidential sandbox for companies using digital assets in cross-border deals.

Where This Heads Next

Russia’s crypto shift is big.

If the government starts treating digital assets as part of its trade balance, it would be one of the first major economies to do so and it would confirm that crypto is now part of how Russia trades, earns, and moves money internationally.