Social Fund reports rise in pension-in-crypto inquiries as crypto use grows

Inquiries about receiving pensions in cryptocurrency have become one of the most frequent non-standard requests to the Social Fund of Russia, the state institution that manages the country’s public pension system. According to a Saturday report from Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the fund’s call center handled roughly 37 million calls in 2025, mostly about routine matters such as pensions, benefits and maternity capital, but operators increasingly fielded questions about digital assets.

Common queries included whether citizens could receive pension payments in crypto and whether income from crypto mining would be counted when calculating social benefits. The fund and its operators replied that all pensions and social payments are issued in rubles and that digital assets fall outside the Social Fund’s remit.

They added that matters related to cryptocurrency income and taxation are handled by the Federal Tax Service, not by pension authorities. Context for the questions includes a Chainalysis report that found Russia became Europe’s largest crypto market, receiving $376.3 billion in cryptocurrency between July 2024 and June 2025; the report cited increases in institutional activity, DeFi use and large transfers.

Key Topics

Crypto, Social Fund, Russia, Cryptocurrency, Federal Tax Service, Chainalysis