Report contents
Europe · Developing
Russia
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 46 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +4 |
| Inflation 7.7% · unbanked 21% · remittances 0.1% GDP · capital controls 0.84 · sanctions 1 | CNI 0.440 |
| Need multiplier | ×1.161 |
| Livability score | 0.635 |
Raw 46/84 = 0.548 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.44, from five components: inflation 7.7% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 21% of adults, remittances 0.1% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.84 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 1. Need multiplier ×1.16. Livability score 0.635, rank #11 of 79.
Three findings
Russia recognises crypto as property, taxes it, and still bans you from spending it at home
Federal Law 418-FZ treats digital currency as property and levies a 13% to 15% tax, while the domestic payment ban means merchants score 0, cards score 0 and utility bills score 0. The spending pillar collapses to 3 of 20, among the lowest in the index. The head of the Duma's financial markets committee put it plainly: Russians will never be permitted to pay for goods or services with Bitcoin or Ether inside Russia.
Sanctions cut Russia off the rails, and the rails moved underground
Western providers list Russia on nearly every restricted register, Visa and Mastercard have been suspended since 2022, and the gift-card catalog has been gutted from 100-plus brands to a domestic remnant of 18 to 28. Yet the remittance corridor scores a full 4 and the peer-to-peer (person-to-person trading) bonus a full 4: with SWIFT disconnected, diaspora-to-family support migrated wholesale onto stablecoin rails, and Russia received an estimated 376.3 billion dollars in crypto in a single year.
Need-pressure vaults Russia 43 places, the largest positive move in this set
Russia scores just 46 of 84 in raw capability, but a Crypto-Necessity Index of 0.44 from 21% unbanked, capital-control intensity 0.84 and full sanctions exposure. The ×1.16 need multiplier, the highest in the European set, carries it from rails #54 to livability #11. This is the index working as designed: thin capability that matters intensely because isolation leaves few alternatives.
In one line
"Russia is the purest illustration of the index's thesis. Strip a country from the global banking system and crypto stops being optional, even where the state forbids spending it at the corner shop."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 3/4, trending liberalising. The shift is a sign reversal against earlier data: on 23 December 2025 the Bank of Russia proposed a framework to legalise and regulate crypto trading for both individuals and institutions, softening its retail stance. It follows mining legalisation in 2024, the January 2025 tax regime, and the cross-border payment regime under the experimental legal regime, while domestic payments remain prohibited.