Bank of Russia Expands Survey to Include Crypto Assets Held by Households
The Central Bank of Russia has just released the results of its latest survey on household finances, which includes a new addition: crypto asset holdings. The data shows that, on average, Russian families keep more money in cryptocurrency wallets than they do in gold investment accounts or mutual funds.
In its report, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) estimated that the median fiat value of crypto holdings among households who own digital assets is 17,500 rubles (roughly $225 USD). That means that over half of the households surveyed had more crypto funds than this threshold.
The survey, which is conducted every two years and covers 32 regions of Russia, was completed by over 6,000 households and 12,000 individuals. The majority of respondents (70%) were polled between May and June of 2022. According to a report by RBC Crypto, the CBR stated in late 2021 that the annual volume of crypto transactions made by Russians amounts to around $5 billion.
Of those surveyed, just over 65% of households had financial assets, with a median amount of 15,700 rubles (roughly $200 USD). More than half (64.5%) of these households kept their money in bank accounts, with a median average of 15,000 rubles.
The survey also found that only 0.4% of households surveyed had invested in cryptocurrencies, a relatively small portion of the sample. However, this number was larger than the number of households that had put money into mutual funds or investment accounts for precious metals, which was 0.3% in each case.
Other notable findings included the fact that around 1.6% of households in the survey stored value in stocks and bonds, with a median average of 26,500 rubles, and 1.2% of respondents had electronic wallets holding a median average of 1,000 rubles.
