Is this Bitcoin? Is it a bond? Or a form of financial role-playing?
You can invest in Bitcoin, but you can't really own it.
In a typical 'Russian operation', the Central Bank of Russia announced: banks can offer crypto-linked products to qualified investors, but on the condition that — no actual delivery of the cryptocurrency itself is allowed.
Yes, you heard it right. You can buy 'assets linked to Bitcoin', but you'll never touch a real #satoshi.
"How about some Bitcoin with your meal?" The first to respond was the renamed Tinkoff Bank (now called T-Bank, which sounds like a villain organization from 007), which launched a 'smart asset' investment product on May 29 — a tool for buying Bitcoin linked to the ruble, without needing a wallet, exchange account, or understanding on-chain operations, directly completed in a mobile app.
T-Bank officially said this
"You can now legally and safely invest in crypto assets within the framework of Russian law through familiar applications — no exchange account needed, and no sleepless nights worrying about cold wallets."
The meaning is very clear:
We give you the 'taste of crypto', but we don't give you real crypto.
We reserve the risks of investment, but you can't take the soul of freedom.
Gave a cold sweat to those doing cross-border payment business with Russia!
Is this Web3, or Web 1998?
The Central Bank of Russia has made it very clear: although we allow the launch of these 'digital financial assets (DFA)', we still do not recommend anyone to invest directly in Bitcoin.
So the question arises:
"You allow the sale of products linked to Bitcoin, but don't allow everyone to own the Bitcoin itself, so what exactly are we buying?"
— A confused mining investor
Currently, the central bank is brewing a so-called 'experimental system' that may allow certain qualified investors to trade BTC, ETH, and other 'real crypto assets' directly in the future.
Doesn't it sound like 'you get a vaccine first, and maybe later you'll get a taste of the real thing'?
In this day and age, even decentralization has to follow a planned economy route?
Much more than the central bank report? The public says: wallets are the real world.
According to the latest report from the Central Bank of Russia, in Q1 2025, the inflow of crypto assets held by Russians surged by 51%, reaching a total of 7.3 trillion rubles (about 81.5 billion USD).
Among the CEX (centralized exchanges), the estimated holdings of Russian users are: 827 billion rubles (about 9.2 billion USD);
Among them, BTC accounts for 62%, ETH for 22%, and stablecoins like USDT and USDC account for about 16%.
But industry insiders don't buy it.
Sergey Mendeleev, the founder of the decentralized exchange Exved, directly complained on Telegram:
"Just the wallets of [Pavel Durov] and [Alexey Bilyuchenko] probably exceed the total amount reported by the central bank."
In short: what the report calls 'registered' is the real wealth, floating on the chain.
Written at the end: What exactly is the Russian-style Web3 doing?
If DeFi is the ultimate freedom of Web3, then the Russian version is more like Web2.5 — you can invest, you can bet, but you can't own it, nor should you think about taking it away.
This design of 'not delivering real coins' is actually very similar to a kind of 'futures skin trading': it looks digitalized, but in reality, it's more like a financial variant under state control.
Is it a transitional plan? Or a long-lasting 'compliance illusion'?
Is Russia trying to experiment while releasing? Or releasing while experimenting?
In a nutshell, today's operation:
"You can have crypto assets, but they're not for you to use."
Excerpt from T-Bank's announcement (translated by Google)
Statement: The creators and platform do not constitute investment advice
