How Bitcoin Became the Most Contested Asset in Russian Divorces

Russia has one of the highest divorce rates in the world. The fact that the country also has one of the highest crypto adoption rates doesn’t make the process any easier.

Unlike tangible assets such as cars or real estate, splitting cryptocurrency during a divorce is rarely straightforward.

The Law That Started the Problem

Almost five in every 1,000 Russians go through a divorce each year. An already difficult process becomes even more complex when cryptocurrency is involved.

Crypto adoption across Russia has surged in recent years. Russians have increasingly turned to digital assets to manage their finances, using them to bypass capital controls and sidestep Western-imposed sanctions, given their cross-border nature.

These two converging realities have pushed lawmakers to reconsider how crypto should be divided in divorce proceedings.

The issue dates back to a 2020 legal amendment that recognized cryptocurrency as intangible property. That classification effectively brought Bitcoin and other digital tokens under the umbrella of marital property.

While most tangible assets fall into this category without much dispute, dividing crypto is far more complicated. A central obstacle is the question of evidence, according to Olga Dovgilova, managing partner of Dovgilova & Partners Law Firm, speaking to Russian outlet Gazeta.Ru.

Dovgilova illustrated the distinction with a concrete example. With an apartment, a paper trail of documents confirms ownership. With crypto, the owner must first prove the asset exists at all.

The situation grows more complicated when only one spouse controls the crypto and the other lacks even basic access or knowledge of the password. If the assets are held on a foreign exchange, international platforms are under no obligation to share information with Russian courts.

The anonymity inherent to cryptocurrency adds yet another layer of difficulty. When ownership cannot be clearly identified, division becomes virtually impossible.

A Bill to Fix the Legal Gap

Now, Russian lawmakers are moving to address the problem head-on with a formal legislative measure. 

State Duma Deputy Igor Antropenko has introduced a bill that would explicitly amend the Family Code to classify cryptocurrency as jointly acquired marital property.

Under the proposed amendments, any digital currency obtained by either spouse during the marriage would be treated as shared property. Crypto acquired before the marriage, or received as a gift during it, would remain the sole property of the individual spouse.

Antropenko’s explanatory note points directly to the legal vacuum that courts have struggled to navigate.

As more Russians use digital currency as a savings and investment vehicle, the absence of clear family law protections risks violating the property rights of one spouse, particularly when the other controls all access to the assets.

The proposal would not resolve all the challenges Dovgilova outlined. 

Questions of evidence, anonymity, and foreign exchange jurisdiction remain largely unanswered by the draft legislation. But if passed, the bill would mark a significant step toward giving courts in Russia a clearer legal foundation.