Cryptocurrencies or stocks: where are Russian investors' money actually going?
In the fall of 2025, Bitcoin updated its all-time high, but this was followed by a prolonged correction. At the same time, regulation of digital currencies tightened in Russia, while the stock market continues to operate under clear rules and steadily pays dividends. Against this backdrop, the private investor faces a difficult choice: where to direct capital? The question of capital flow from crypto to stocks has become one of the hottest topics in the expert community.
Is there a flow?
Alexander Peresichan, CEO of TECHNOBIT, confirms that some money from Russian investors has indeed begun to flow into stocks. The reason is profit-taking after Bitcoin's peak and fatigue from high volatility. Activity on crypto exchanges has decreased, while the stock market in 2026 has presented attractive opportunities: high dividends and transparent company reporting. However, the expert clarifies that this involves only a small fraction of investors.
Not everyone agrees with him. Yaroslav Kabakov from IK "Finam" asserts that there is no mass movement of funds. In his opinion, crypto and stocks are fundamentally different investment strategies, and their audiences overlap little. Fedor Ivanov from "SHARD" even observes the opposite trend: an outflow from stocks into bank savings and current consumption. And Yan Pinchuk from WhiteBird points to the forward P/E multiplier of the Russian market, which is only 3.7 compared to the historical average of 6.2. This, he says, completely refutes the hypothesis of private capital inflow into stocks.
Risk and return: stocks vs. crypto
In assessing the risk-return ratio, experts are much more unanimous. Roman Nosov from "BCS World of Investments" reminds that both stocks and crypto are risky assets, but digital coins have an order of magnitude higher risk and potential return. Over a one-year horizon, the overall risk of cryptocurrency, he says, is definitely higher. At the same time, after deep corrections, returns in both segments can be very high.
Fedor Ivanov adds an important qualitative difference: crypto has specific infrastructure risks (hacks, loss of keys, regulatory issues) that stocks fundamentally lack. Therefore, conservative investors will view the crypto market with caution, even despite the emergence of government regulation.
Do the instruments compete for the same investor?
Expert opinions here diverge again, although most lean toward the theory of different audiences. Alexander Peresichan believes that the users of these products differ greatly. Crypto attracts a young, risk-prone audience that does not want to deal with brokers and tax reporting. For them, cryptocurrency is simpler and faster.
Fedor Ivanov insists that the crypto market with a capitalization of $2.4 trillion is incomparable to the stock market. These are two different financial worlds. Yan Pinchuk suggests looking at the issue through the lens of economic cycles: the private investor goes where the hype is. Currently, there is no hype in the Russian stock market, while a crypto winter is raging in the crypto industry. He notes that the best time to buy stocks is when no one likes them, and he assesses the expected return on Russian stocks over a 5–10 year horizon as very high.
Conclusions
Most of the surveyed experts do not confirm the hypothesis of a mass flow of funds from crypto to stocks. Only Alexander Peresichan records such movement, but calls its scale small. Yaroslav Kabakov speaks of the absence of mass transitions, while Fedor Ivanov and Yan Pinchuk point to reverse or neutral dynamics.
On risk assessment issues, experts are united: crypto remains a more dangerous asset with high potential returns, while stocks are a more predictable and less volatile instrument.
My opinion: The current situation is not a flow, but rather a natural diversification. Investors who were previously only in crypto are starting to look at the stock market, but this is not a flight. Rather, we are witnessing the formation of a more mature approach to capital management, where different asset classes occupy their niches in the portfolio. For a long-term investor, Russian stocks currently look extremely undervalued, but this does not negate crypto's potential for speculative and high-risk strategies.