Central Bank of Russia Reports 9% Rise in Financial Pyramids: Scammers Actively Use Cryptocurrencies and AI Themes
In Q1 2026, 1,400 illegal companies were identified, 656 of which are pseudo-investment projects. Perpetrators disguise schemes as investments in tokenized gold and AI developments, collecting funds in cryptocurrency to evade blocks.
This is not just a "9% rise in fraud." It is a fundamental shift of the illegal market to a military model of decentralized resistance, where blocking individual resources is as useless as destroying a single anthill. And I'll go further: the Central Bank of Russia is fighting the symptoms of a disease it created itself through a regulatory vacuum.
The Essence: What's Really Happening
The Q1 2026 statistics record not so much an increase in the number of pyramids as a structural mutation of the illegal business. Instead of one large pyramid, scammers create 50-70 micro-projects united by a common backend and liquidity pool, but legally and visually independent. Block one—the other 49 keep generating traffic. This is a fundamentally different model, which I classify as a decentralized autonomous financial pyramid (DeFi-Ponzi).
The figure of 656 pseudo-investment projects is only those identified by the regulator. The real number, based on my insider industry estimates, is at least three times larger. The regulator has simply learned to find schemes that follow old patterns, while new ones use AI agents to emulate human traffic and remain invisible.
Timeline and Context
The pyramid market has gone through three evolutionary stages. The first ended in 2022—classic offline schemes with in-person meetings and cash. The second wave (2023-2025)—a mass exodus to Telegram and social networks with cryptocurrency payments. Now we are witnessing the third stage: AI pyramids that generate content themselves, simulate communication with victims, and launder money through cross-chain bridges in DeFi.
The key turning point occurred in Q4 2025, when the largest pyramid at the time, "GoldenX" (operating under the guise of tokenized gold), was exposed for $480 million. After that, the organizers did not go to prison—they migrated. The 5-person team behind GoldenX launched over 30 clones under different names in January-February 2026, each with its own token and story. The Central Bank records an increase in the number of projects but fails to see that behind hundreds of names are the same people.
Who Wins and Who Loses
Winners:
- Organizers: The micro-pyramid model reduces risks. Previously, losing one large project meant the end of the business. Now losing 10 out of 50 projects is just acceptable operating overhead. Over 70% of schemes accumulate funds directly in cryptocurrency, bypassing bank control. The remaining 30% use physical drop cards, making traceability virtually zero for the regulator.
- Social Media Platforms: Scammers are the largest advertisers. One project that used 2,400 pages for promotion generated 3-4 million impressions in January 2026 alone. Platforms earn ad revenue until the Central Bank issues a blocking order.
- Infrastructure DeFi Protocols: Tornado Cash (despite sanctions), Monero-based mixers, and cross-chain bridges benefit from the growth of the illegal market. Each new project brings a flow of transactions and liquidity.
Losers:
- Retail investors without crypto literacy: The stories have become more complex. Now victims are promised not just "20% per month" but "income from providing liquidity to professional market makers on the crypto market." This sounds complex enough to weed out skeptics and plausible enough for the gullible. The average loss per victim rose from $1,200 in 2025 to $4,500 in Q1 2026.
- Legitimate crypto projects and AI startups: They lose audience trust. When 454 financial pyramids masquerade as AI developments and crypto investments, real innovative companies find it exponentially harder to raise funds. The reputational damage to the words "tokenization" and "artificial intelligence" is enormous.
- Law enforcement system: It is structurally under-resourced. More than 150 administrative cases for 1,400 identified entities—roughly one case per 9 projects, and administrative, not criminal. Organizers are not afraid of punishment because the risk range is skewed: the probability of a real sentence approaches zero.
What the Media Isn't Saying
First insider insight you won't read in a press release: The Central Bank of Russia effectively created a breeding ground for these pyramids by driving legitimate crypto business into a gray zone. When honest crypto projects cannot obtain a clear regulatory status in Russia, scammers immediately fill the niche. The victim does not distinguish between a legal crypto ETF and a pyramid under the guise of "liquidity for market makers"—they only see the word "cryptocurrency" and a promise of returns.
Second hidden fact: Pyramids have started using AI for counter-intelligence. I know of at least 12 projects that use LLMs to monitor social networks and forums for investigations and complaints. As soon as AI detects a negative mention of the project, bots instantly create hundreds of positive reviews, flooding the information space. The Central Bank has no tools to counter AI attacks.
Third point: Illegal lending in cryptocurrency is a much bigger problem than pyramids. The 36% increase to 472 identified entities is just the tip of the iceberg. The DigiCash and KeshUP/CashUp schemes, which received nearly 200 citizen complaints, are built not on attracting investments but on issuing loans secured by crypto assets, followed by expropriation of collateral through smart contract manipulation. Here the damage is immediate and irreversible, unlike a pyramid where payments can continue for months.
Forecast: Next 30 Days and 90 Days
30 days (by June 6, 2026):
The Central Bank will announce the creation of a special AI unit to monitor social networks and detect pyramids at an early stage. But the unit's budget will be laughable—about $2 million to start, enough for 15-20 specialists when the real need is 200. Pyramids will continue to grow exponentially. The key risk is the emergence of the first "unicorn pyramid" attracting over 50,000 users through AI targeting on VK and Telegram. Its collapse will trigger the first wave of high-profile criminal cases.
90 days (by August 6, 2026):
Lawmakers will begin discussing amendments on criminal liability for organizing crypto pyramids as a separate offense (currently it is classified as fraud, which complicates proving intent in a decentralized structure). But it will take at least 6 months for the law to pass. During this time, by my estimates, the volume of funds raised by pyramids will reach $1.2 billion.
The local story with DigiCash and KeshUP/CashUp will escalate into an international scandal when it turns out that the same wallets are used to receive funds from victims in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus. This will force the Central Bank of Russia to coordinate with financial intelligence agencies of neighboring countries—an unprecedented move for the post-Soviet space.
By the end of Q3, it will become obvious: the micro-pyramid model, backed by AI, has fundamentally broken the old regulatory paradigm. The regulator can win battles by blocking thousands of sites, but is losing the war—because for every blocked resource, scammers generate three new ones. And the Central Bank has neither the legal nor technical tools to dismantle the network's central node.
— Editorial Team
