Experiences sending money to Russia using cryptocurrencies

Travel to Russia
1

I open this thread to know the experiences of other members of the Community sending money to Russia using cryptocurrencies.

I have been researching the subject and currently, after the closure of Binance’s business in Russia and its sale to Commex (operator that also announced its closure), the operators that allow sending money to Russia through cryptocurrencies are becoming less and less: Bybit, HTX, etc.

In addition to these, it should be noted that it is possible to install a wallet in telegram to send cryptocurrencies.
In both cases, the most common procedure consists of two steps:

  • First, buy USDT with a bank card (USDT is a stablecoin whose value is tied to the dollar and does not fluctuate as much as Bitcoin and other currencies).
  • Secondly, sell USDT for rubles directly through these platforms or via a P2P marketplace and receive the rubles by wire transfer or via a Russian bank card (Tinkoff, Rosbank, etc.).

I personally have not tried this method yet, so I would like to know your experience. I think it is a topic that may be of interest for many people since with the sanctions there are less and less methods left to send money to Russia.

UPDATED JUNE 2024: Thank you all for the responses to this thread. They have been very useful. I have been able to learn how to send money to Russia by sending with cryptocurrencies. I have prepared a step by step guide in this article:

2

You can buy and sell crypto no matter the sanctions, you can use a DEX instead of a CEX (Such as OKX, Bybit, Binance, etc) also wallet in telegram is a great option, I’ve used the P2P a lot of times and I haven’t had any problem, you can also buy and sell the crypto all in the P2P market and you’ll end up with a transaction with no fees and better exchange rate than any bank, even get a profit from it.

3

And for the telegram P2P I wouldn’t personally recommend buying USDT because the gas fees are a little high, I would better recommend to buy and sell TON, the fees are really low

4

If you are from the US like myself, many popular cryptocurrency apps that were mentioned here such as OKX, Bybit, Binance, etc… will not work in the U.S because of U.S regulation. However, you can always get some other apps that offer crypto wallets. You can then buy cryptocurrencies using your bank accounts and store it in the wallet.

For people to receive cryptocurrency in Russia, they will need the following:

  1. Crypto wallet - The easiest one to get is Telegram wallet. Simply type @wallet in the search bar of the Telegram app and then follow some simple steps and you are good to go. There are other options but they are quite complicated to explain them here.
  2. Specific wallet address for specific cryptocurrency. For example, if you want to receive Bitcoin, you will need the Bitcoin wallet address. If you use USDT wallet address to receive Bitcoin, your fund may be lost or the transaction will not go through. Provide the sender with the wallet address and they can send the fund to your wallet from their crypto wallets. Keep in mind, there may be a transaction fee for moving the fund from their wallet to yours.

To convert cryptocurrency to Ruble and deposit the fund to your account, you will need to use P2P. Telegram offers P2P inside their wallet app, so it is quite convenience. You can also use other exchange websites such as bestchange.

5

Thank you very much for sharing your experience @sewer and @pattruong9872

Yes, you’re right, in Telegram is better to buy and sell TON (low fees).

I’m in Europe and here you can use Bybit, HTX, Telegram, etc. In the USA the problem is the person you send to has to know how to open a crypto wallet. It is not complicated for young people, but it is for older people.

6

More questions than answers. Talk to me like a 5 year old. How exactly step by step can you use Telegram to send money from your bank account in Canada to your own bank account you opened in Russia? And hopefully there are not a bunch of loss in exchange or fees?

7

@JBB Technically speaking, you use your money (I assumed you use Canadian dollar) from your bank account in Canada to buy cryptocurrencies. You then send these cryptocurrencies to your wallet on Telegram account. After that, you need to sell cryptocurrencies using their P2P platform to receive Rubble in your bank account in Russia

Do have a Telegram wallet? or using any app that buy and sell cryptocurrencies in Canada?

8

@pattruong9872 Oh so I gotta buy them first somewhere else? I tried to buy using my bankcard on Telegram but it failed. So instead I gotta use another wallet then link that wallet? There is so little knowledge available anywhere about moving money to Russia. I would just pack my suitcase full of cash but I am very sure even though Canada says it is legal to move money, they would find some excuse and take my money pending investigation and I would lose it for years. I don’t trust Canada. And even entering Russia they could also suspect something funny. So the only option seems to be this crypto.

9

@JBB I am from the US, so I think we are more or less in the same situation. From my experience, you will need the following:

  1. A crypto trading app that work in Canada using your Canadian bank account. You should find an app that also offer a crypto wallet (wallet #1) which will be used to store your purchased cryptocurrencies.
  2. You have Telegram wallet (wallet #2) which will be used to receive cryptocurrencies from wallet #1. You can then use Telegram app to sell your cryptocurrencies to Ruble and deposit the fund to your own Russian bank account
    Be aware that there will be fee when you transfer cryptocurrencies from wallet #1 to wallet #2. There may be a fee when you sell cryptocurrencies from wallet #2 to Ruble as well.
    It is a long way to work around, but it works for me so far. If you have any other questions, let me know
10

@JBB Not really, you buy and send the money directly on telegram.

11

@JBB Specifically for your country you can buy crypto from any of these companies with your cardhttps://i.imgur.com/SgTgatN.jpg

12

@JBB There is so little knowledge available anywhere about moving money to Russia.

in fact there is a lot of knowledge about it, but for russians and people familiar with Russia.
Until well ahead into mid-2000’s euro-merican banking systems wasn’t adopted massively in Russia. In order to palliate somewhat chaotic lack of nation-wide unified payment system beside postal wires, electronic currencies were created: Yandex Dingi and Webmoney.
In the 2005-2010 I used to do a lot of payments when I was in Russia with Webmoney and Kiwi wallets, online and for cash deposit the many Kiwi machines around.
Back then appeared the first and oldest exchangers still working nowadays, where 2-steps currency exchange were operated, thanks to the many Russians “left” in Baltic countries after USSR dissolution, and who were then living in EU banking ecosystem. They were the interface.

If you were doing money transfers to Russia back in the 2005, basically nowadays it’s different but similar: bridges between two different systems.

13

sewer
can you please explain in simple steps how to send money from the UK to Russia

In detail
send money from uk bank using a bank card
receive money into russian bank (Raiff in my case in moscow)

i have set up a telegram wallet (but they want passport id to buy Ton crypto) but don’t know how to do things in detail. especially how to get money out of telegram wallet into russian bank account

thanks for any help

14

Use Profee matey from UK, miles cheaper and instant to Raffaisen

15

@phoebe Many thanks for your reply phoebe, but I cannot get Profee to work for me. I have tried 2 different bank cards. Have you done this recently? When was the last time you used Profee from UK to Russia. And what UK bank card did you use if you don’t mind me asking.
Thanks again
Best wishes
Bob

16

@bob don’t know how to do things in detail. especially how to get money out of telegram wallet into russian bank account

Telegram wallet is just that: a wallet. In order to credit a bank account from a TON/BTC/XMR/ZEC/etc electronic currency of any wallet you need a man in the middle, and intermediary who has himself bank accounts in the banking system of the recipient’s account. You send him the electronic currency amount equivalent of the money you want to send, and on his side he does a transfer from his bank account to the recipient’s bank account, for a fee (as displayed on the exchange site).

you need to pick an exchange. For this, different portals, and bestchange.com is a good one. Set on the left column the source currency/e-currency and the recipient’s one, pick an exchange listed. For instance TON–>MIR (which includes Raiffiensenbank):
https://www.bestchange.ru/ton-to-mir.html

let´s pick one at random, 60sec. On this one you can switch the language, choice of few languages:

you set “from” (TON) and “to” (Raiffeisenbank), fill in the data and proceed:

next page will generate the Toncoin address (a long alphanumeric chain) to be credited, and option to display it as QR-code, and a transaction/order number.

In the TON wallet you use, Telegram for instance, you send to the address provided.

@bob they want passport id to buy Ton crypto)

this is general. Unless you have a possibility to buy cryptocurrency in the street face to face with cash and mobile phone app, something that has almost disappeared these days, you will go through what authorities call KYC and AML verifications (Know Your Customer, Anti Money Laundering).
These are regulations set by EU, USA, UK and cousins (Canada, etc).

When you use you card in order to buy something in UK, YOUR bank, ie. UK authorities, virtually know what you do, your transactions are recorded in some bank with gov. access data centers. When you buy abroad, say buy a beer in Malaga or buy online from abroad on Ebay, you use your card, it’s the same: transactions are recorded. You are fully traceable.
The point here is: KYC verifications are imposed by authorities in the first place.

Telegram by now redirects to Neocrypto for buying TON:

and it is this particular business, Neocrypto, that will require verification.

There’s no need for Telegram. You can use any Toncoin wallet application in order to buy TON.
For instance Tonkeeper app list of businesses for buying TON by card, where you find also Neocrypto. Some of these are well established cryptocurrencies traders, and all of them require KYC verification:

17

@bob I transfer daily using Revolut, I know Monza don’t permit.

18

@antoniob Thank you so much Antoniob

I am very grateful to you. It was kind of you to go into it in so much detail.

What I plan to do now is think about the whole process and create a list. Then come back here and show my list of how I plan to do things. I hope it is correct but if not then please correct me.

Thank you again

Bob

19

@phoebe Hello Phoebe thank you.

Sorry I don’t quite understand. Are you in the UK? I have a new UK Revolut card. Are you saying that a UK Revolut card works with Profee to send money to Russia? (GBP Revolut to Rubles in Russian bank)

Thank you again

Bob

20

@bob Thank you so much

you are welcome. I am used to cryptocurrencies since the beginning of Bitcoin, so I guess I can introduce easily to newbies.
So to summarize in fewer words: it’s 2-steps process

  • first use a “wallet” in order to buy whatever cryptocurrency. At this step you use your country card/bank. There different kind of brokers, but all require some sort of verification. These are UK/EU/US requirements for these businesses.
  • then exchange the crypto to rubles to be credited the recipients account

in some cases, as @phoebe mentions a single step may be enough. Depends you bank I guess.