Key Takeaways
- Russia recorded $376 billion in crypto transaction value between July 2023 and June 2025, beating the U.K. and Germany.
- Chainalysis found that the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework is boosting institutional participation.
- The U.K. remains an innovation hub but is falling behind the EU’s regulatory progress.
Russia has overtaken the U.K. to become Europe’s largest cryptocurrency market by transaction volume, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis released on Thursday.
Russia Leads EU Crypto
In a report emailed to CCN, between July 2023 and June 2025, Russia received $376 billion in crypto value.
This was significantly more than the U.K., which placed second with $273 billion, and Germany’s $219 billion, the report said.
Ukraine and France followed next to round out the top five.
The findings, drawn from Chainalysis’ investigation, highlighted a “new phase of maturity and realignment” in Europe’s digital-asset economy, the firm said.
Germany, Poland, and Ukraine recorded the fastest growth rates, driven by both institutional participation and retail adoption, the firm said.
“Europe’s crypto markets are showing remarkable depth and resilience,” said Matthias Bauer-Langgartner, Head of Policy for Europe at Chainalysis.
“Rather than plateauing, the largest economies are still expanding, fuelled by regulatory clarity and the growing integration of digital assets into mainstream financial activity.”
U.K. Falls to Second Place
The U.K., while falling to second place by volume, has seen traders shift strongly toward decentralised finance (DeFi) platforms as regulators tighten retail trading rules, Chainalysis said.
Flows to decentralised exchanges now consistently exceed those to centralised ones, the firm added.
Meanwhile, Russia’s growth has been underpinned by an 86% rise in institutional-scale transactions and a surge in DeFi activity, now more than triple its 2023 levels.
Russia’s controversial A7A5 ruble-denominated stablecoin has also become a “key vehicle for cross-border payments,” the firm wrote.
The stablecoin, linked to Russian exchange Garantax, has been heavily scrutinised and sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
In 2022, the OFAC first accused the platform of facilitating illicit transactions and linked it to the darknet marketplace giant Hydra Market.
In March 2025, Garantex was shut down by a coordinated international law enforcement operation.
MiCA Boost
Chainalysis said the rollout of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework has helped accelerate participation from banks and payment providers, sparking what it called a “stablecoin transformation” across the European Economic Area.
As of September, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) listed 15 e-money token issuers managing 25 compliant single-currency stablecoins.
This has left the U.K., which has regularly shared its ambition to be a global leader in the space, looking to catch up with its own digital playbook.
This week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) unveiled new guidelines to help the country’s £14 trillion asset management industry adopt tokenization under existing rules.
The FCA’s initiative forms part of a wider digital assets roadmap to keep Britain competitive after Brexit.
“Tokenization has the potential to drive fundamental changes in asset management,” said Simon Walls, the FCA’s Executive Director of Markets.
“The U.K. has the opportunity to be a world leader here, and we want to provide asset managers with the clarity and confidence they need to deliver.”
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Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
