Antonina Levashenko, Head of International Best Practices Analysis Department at the Gaidar Institute, commented on the possibility of creating a payment infrastructure in Russia, particularly for the gambling market, during the January 28, 2025, episode of the Day. Main program on RBC. She noted that the technical basis for the legal segment already exists, but the key challenge comes from offshore online casinos, whose operations remain outside the purview of regulatory authorities due to two systemic problems.
The first, according to the expert, is the use of cards from “friendly countries” for cross- border payments. “This is almost impossible with national cards. It is practically impossible to track which bank the money went to, where it came from, and how it all happened, because the auto-exchange between these countries is not fully established. Our regulators simply do not see this,” said Antonina Levashenko.
The second problem is the lack of regulation of the crypto market. “Digital currency is not a means of payment in our country, which means that we do not see this market within the country either, and when our citizens pay with cryptocurrency to offshore online casinos, we do not see these payments either,” she explained.
Antonina Levashenko emphasized that these gaps create significant advantages for the illegal segment: “Offshore online casinos are likely to offer more favorable conditions and will continue to exist despite these two systemic problems.”
The expert sees the need to legalize the national crypto infrastructure as a solution. “We must recognize that this is a means of payment. If you do not create the infrastructure for this within the country, then foreign infrastructure will be used, and you will not be able to see the transactions that are taking place,” Antonina Levashenko concluded.