Russia finds 1,000 crypto pyramid schemes working locally in 2025

Russian regulators have identified more than 1,000 pyramid schemes that provide rapid returns on cryptocurrency investments in the first half of a year ago.

This data is against the backdrop of a significant increase in the number of fraudulent projects in financial markets registered by the Russian Central Bank.

1,000 Crypto Pyramid Scams in 2025 Russians

Between January and June, the Bank of Russia discovered 4,183 entities showing signs of illegal financial activity, including many pyramid schemes. That’s almost 20% more than the first six months of last year’s total, financial authorities announced this week.

The number of traditional pseudo-investment platforms and illegal forex dealers has shrunk, but the proportion of fraud projects that continue to grow as a way to gather user funds using Crypto or as assets that seduce investors is continuing to grow in new research.

According to the latest edition of the “Fighting Illegal Acts in Financial Markets” report, the financial pyramids during this period were 1.4 times higher than H1 in 2024, and almost all are run as short-term online investment projects.

Of these, over 1,000 people provided “quickly and guaranteed” benefits from investments in cryptocurrency and other digital assets. The rest of the promises earn a quick income from money spent on precious metals, raw materials, or a variety of “innovative businesses.”

80% of pyramid schemes asked investors to send crypto

The majority of the identified financial pyramids (over 80%) suggested that participants would use cryptocurrency to transfer funds to the project, with less than 20% offering potential victims using foreign payment services. For comparison, 59% of such entities accepted cryptography last year.

The Russian Central Bank (CBR) has also registered an increase in internet-based platforms that offer the opportunity to trade coins on cryptocurrency exchanges. Such projects are using domestic and global market development to promote themselves, the bank said.

We will explain in more detail:

“Depending on the backdrop of declining trust in foreign securities, fraudsters have become more aggressive in getting an audience, primarily from social networks, involved in betting on differences in cryptocurrency rates.”

CBR also identifies many illegal lenders who offer short-term loans in cryptocurrency. The amount of the loan is shown in the Russian ruble, but borrowers usually get the money through a stablecoin (USDT), such as, for example, tether (USDT). Debts can be repaid with crypto or Russian Fiat.

Regulatory bodies in the Russian Federation have received many complaints from clients in illegal lending businesses, including aggressive debt collection.

The scammer launched 170 telegram channels to attract investors

To attract victims, the fraudsters and illegal lenders behind the pyramid scheme used more than 170 telegram channels. Over 3,000 pages have been blocked by authorities on social media sites and advertising platforms that promote illegal lending services.

In total, more than 11,000 internet resources for illegal participants in the financial markets and financial pyramids are limited to 20 million potential users. Authorities have launched 240 cases under various articles on administrative crimes in the Russian Federation.

In addition to constantly updating its blacklist of entities involved in illegal financial activities, the Bank of Russia also recommends a set of money laundering tools available to credit institutions regarding such players, including transaction restrictions and bank account blocking.

CBR pointed out:

“In the first half of 2025, credit institutions adopted restrictive measures for more than 600 payment details.”

The authorities also highlighted that the special information systems used by Russian law enforcement agencies and banks to track cryptocurrency transactions and establish links between crypto and fiat flow already contain data from over 1,800 cryptocurrency wallets used by illegal entities.

As Cryptopolitan recently reported, by flagging Fiat Transactions as “high risk,” the database could also be employed to target regular crypto users trading on peer-to-peer platforms, along with Russia’s Money Laundering Anti-Money Laundering Rules and Payment Systems Act.