Almost a third of Russian traders are taking advantage of lower cryptocurrency rates right now, convinced that the market will return to growth.

The majority of participants in a recent poll believe in a better future for Bitcoin and the likes, while many of them are reporting losses as a result of the latest downturn.

Russian crypto investors keep buying Bitcoin

Despite the recent steep decline in prices, many in Russia are optimistic about the long-term potential of cryptocurrencies in terms of investment opportunities. That’s according to a new survey conducted among the subscribers of RBC Crypto, a major source of news in the Russian digital asset space, part of the business information portal RBC.

Almost a third of the respondents are currently acquiring coins, while many admit to losing money on their previous purchases, the pollsters found out, highlighting:

“Market sentiment survey results showed that 30.09% of participants ‘believe in growth and are buying’.”

Over a quarter, a little more than 26%, described the situation as “difficult,” falling into a segment that’s “in the red.”

Around 20% of the questioned traders said they had “everything under control” and are adapting to the new market realities.

Approximately 17.5% are “watching from the sidelines,” and almost 6.4% agreed with the statement “undecided.”

The price of Bitcoin (BTC), the cryptocurrency with the largest market cap, recently dropped below $100,000 for the first time in four months. That of Ethereum (ETH), the coin with the second-largest capitalization, fell to $3,000.

The authors of the study commented:

“Such a sharp decline is rare. Almost all altcoins in the top 100 are in the red, and crypto exchanges have liquidated traders’ positions worth billions of dollars in just a few days.”

The prices of major cryptocurrencies have recovered slightly since then, with BTC trading above $102,000, at the time of writing, and ETH selling for over $3,300.

Many crypto traders remain uncertain

Uncertainty is the predominant sentiment among the members of RBC Crypto’s Telegram channel, the report also noted. As many as 40% are wondering whether the current prices are “good for buying.”

Around 22% think it’s the right time to enter the market. Some 16% are actually considering buying, while another 22% may wait longer as they expect further decline.

Analysts interviewed by RBC Crypto warned at the end of October that “bulls’ strength is waning” and set the bears’ target at $96,500, predicting the market downturn in early November.

Bitcoin’s local low on the morning of November 5 was a little higher, with the price briefly bottoming at around $98,900, the Russian crypto news outlet remarked.

At the end of last month, the Belarus-registered crypto broker Cifra Markets, which provides services in Russia and the region, predicted that BTC would surpass $130,000 by the end of 2025.

Russia is yet to regulate crypto investments

Crypto assets are not as readily available in Russia as in other jurisdictions, at least when it comes to legal options to acquire them.

Despite its long-standing opposition to legalizing operations with decentralized digital money, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) eventually permitted some crypto investments, mainly through derivatives.

However, these are only available to a narrow category of “highly qualified,” high-income investors, and within a special “experimental legal regime” (ELR). The latter also allows Russian firms to make coin payments exclusively in foreign trade.

Despite the restrictions and the lack of regulatory recognition, ordinary citizens have been buying Bitcoin. According to a recent estimate, some 20 million Russians already hold at least $40 billion worth of digital assets, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

In October, the CBR announced it’s going to authorize Russian banks to work with cryptocurrencies and indicated it expects new legislation comprehensively regulating crypto investments to be adopted by the Russian parliament in 2026.

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