Russia's Banks Bleed 24 Billion Euros as Crypto Trading Soars

Russia's banking system is experiencing a massive cash outflow, with approximately 24.4 billion euros withdrawn in the first seven months of 2026. This wave of withdrawals began in early March and has been accelerating, with July seeing the largest monthly increase since 2026.

According to Bank of Russia data, cash circulation increased by 607.3 billion rubles in April, 381.2 billion rubles in May, 449.7 billion rubles in June, and 643.4 billion rubles in July. The total amount of cash held by Russian residents and enterprises has exceeded 21.9 trillion rubles.

Deposit data from specific banks illustrates the problem even better, with Gazprombank losing 299.5 billion rubles in personal deposits over four months, accounting for 10.8% of its total deposits; Rosselkhozbank lost 270.5 billion rubles, a decline of over 15%; Russia's largest private bank Alfa-Bank lost 179.4 billion rubles, a decrease of 5.6%. Even the traditionally stable Sberbank was not spared, losing 211.6 billion rubles in June alone and another 31.8 billion rubles in July.

While cash is flowing out of banks, crypto trading volume is rapidly expanding. In February 2025, Russian Deputy Minister of Finance Ivan Chebeskov stated that daily cryptocurrency trading volume in the Russian private sector reached about 50 billion rubles, equivalent to approximately $648 million at the exchange rate at the time.

The public is not treating cryptocurrency as a speculative toy, but rather as a savings tool to combat ruble depreciation, evade capital controls, and cope with financial uncertainty. Data from Chainalysis corroborates the size of this market from another angle, showing that cryptocurrency fund inflows received by Russia reached $376.3 billion from July 2024 to June 2025, nearly 1.4 times that of the UK's $273.2 billion.