Russians Bypass Financial Isolation with Virtual Visa Cards

After Visa and Mastercard withdrew from Russia in March 2022, Russians lost access to international payments. Cards issued by Russian banks under these payment systems stopped working abroad, affecting everything from booking hotels to paying for Netflix subscriptions.

A new market emerged to meet this demand, with little-known financial services offering virtual Visa or Mastercard cards via Telegram bots. These services allow users to top up their balances with cryptocurrency or roubles and use them for cross-border payments.

Ekonomichna Pravda investigated how these platforms operate, identifying around 50 such services that have emerged over the past year or two. Most of these platforms generate virtual cards within minutes, which can be used to pay for online purchases, subscriptions, and advertising services, or while traveling.

The minimum amount required to create a card is around $55 (CinCin) or $75 (Cinazes). Users can top up their balance via the service's internal wallet by transferring USDT on the TRC-20 network. Some platforms also offer physical cards delivered by post.