Sending money between U.S.A. and Russia these days ...

[spysee 6]

On 12/7/2023 at 1:00 AM, BenNomad said:

The only exchange operating in Russia that supports USDC for P2P transactions seems to be ByBit. Am I missing something? I registered on HTX (Huobi) - no USDC listed for P2P. Same thing with CommEx. I couldn't find USDC on Garantex either. USDT seems to be widely supported though.

 

Also, the only mutually available network for transferring USDC to ByBit or HTX is Ethereum. Solana network is not available. As far as I could tell, there is no zero-fee transfer option for USDC, but the fee using the Ethereum network at the time I checked was around $5. And that's a flat fee, not a percent of the transfer amount. 

 

 

 

After you receive USDC on HTX or Bybit - just convert it to USDT (it's basically free there) and then use USDT P2P to transfer to Russian card.

Don't convert anything on Coinbase - fees are insane. Use Coinbase only to buy USDC from US checking account and send it. You won't be able to send USDT through Solana on Coinbase, only USDC.

Edited December 14, 2023 by spysee

[mendeleev 68]

Expobank, one of the banks we have used for Wire transfers, is now sanctioned by the USA and off-limits.

[antalia 0]

Hi guys, this is the freshest topic I found on sending money to Russia. Are there still ways to wire transfer that you could advise? Or is it only crypto at the moment?

[Chris Parker 10]

17 minutes ago, antalia said:

Hi guys, this is the freshest topic I found on sending money to Russia. Are there still ways to wire transfer that you could advise? Or is it only crypto at the moment?

Nothing new from me. Ruble doesn't actually transfer, it's just swapped with other exchangers, be it for crypto or U.S. dollar deposits. 

 

More recently I've been fighting with ways of getting around the ongoing U.S. Mail suspension on even letter deliveries to Russia, but that's off-topic here so please don't reply on that.

[zimothy 2]

I should have posted after I did this, but I've had recent success with a previous poster's method. I've been able to send Euros from my Schwab brokerage account (converted from USD to avoid the ridiculous fee) to my wife's Raiffeisenbank account. 

[Chris Parker 10]

31 minutes ago, zimothy said:

I've been able to send Euros from my Schwab brokerage account (converted from USD to avoid the ridiculous fee) to my wife's Raiffeisenbank account. 

 

Does that also work in the opposite direction?  Could she send euros from Raiffeisenbank to Schwab?  That's what we're actually doing.

[zimothy 2]

3 hours ago, Chris Parker said:

 

Does that also work in the opposite direction?  Could she send euros from Raiffeisenbank to Schwab?  That's what we're actually doing.

 

Honestly, I'm not sure because we haven't tried doing it that way. Sorry!

[Kruger876 2]

Has anyone done any recent transfers from Russia to USA?

 

I know previously this was discussed as means to transfer for a family member.

We have a completely different situation - person is moving to US on IR5 visa. How in the world do they take their assets with them? Sell an apartment, then what?

[Chris Parker 10]

Apartment was retained and is being rented out. Others there have a Power of Attorney to do this and collect the money to send to us.  Eventually apartment will be sold through them as well.

 

Rent and state pension payments are thus the monthly remittances that we are now transferring from Russia to USA. This working via counterparty swap exchanges, either with another local family that we know which occasionally needs to send money the opposite direction, or most recently via the cryptocurrency exchange's P2P marketplace and a wallet transfer on the blockchain.

[Kruger876 2]

On 3/18/2024 at 10:38 PM, Chris Parker said:

Apartment was retained and is being rented out. Others there have a Power of Attorney to do this and collect the money to send to us.  Eventually apartment will be sold through them as well.

 

Rent and state pension payments are thus the monthly remittances that we are now transferring from Russia to USA. This working via counterparty swap exchanges, either with another local family that we know which occasionally needs to send money the opposite direction, or most recently via the cryptocurrency exchange's P2P marketplace and a wallet transfer on the blockchain.

Chris,

 

We had exactly the same idea for transfers, just use crypto.

While transfer itself is not a problem, it also seems to contradict current Russian law (I don't claim to know all the nuances but hear me out).

 

Effective 2022 or so, any Russian citizen now has to report purchase of investment assets (which crypto is considered to be). With an intent that these funds at some point are coming back to Russia.

So when you transfer say a payment from a plastic debit card or even wire transfer to an exchange, that transaction is reported by the exchange (so long it is regulated in/by Russia), but even if not, any operating bank will also report such transaction to any regulated exchange as such (investment, etc). It is also not currently possible to buy foreign assets my understanding, which means you can only use regulated exchanges, who do not allow foreign assets.

While it is technically possible to do so, whoever the depositing side from Russia is - that entity/person now is subject to prosecution, up to felony with no right to leave the country. I imagine in small transactions it's not relevant, or until someone cares. But technically, you can end up being stuck permanently or worse jeopardizing whoever is aiding with outbound transfer if they do not understand consequences.

 

This is just an observation, which could be incorrect. If so - let me know.

Did you all seek legal help to determine whether crypto transfers can be structured as such that keeps them legal within Russian jurisdiction?

Edited March 22 by Kruger876

[Chris Parker 10]

This is likely one reason why the only way to transfer money to/from the crypto exchanges is via P2P in one form or another.  The rubles never actually leave Russia, they are just transferred between random people within Russia.

 

Russian law is very nuanced. This is a whole different topic. You are right to bring this up as a disclaimer, however, as what the law there actually means, when it is applied, to whom, and what the penalties are can vary from person to person and official to official. Nothing is ever black-and-white or crystal clear, there is always a murkiness. This is why corruption festers throughout the country.

 

Another legal consideration with sending money out Russia that I should mention, is the Russian National Bank has repeatedly issued temporary limits on sending rubles abroad, in order to help maintain the currency's value. Small amounts for personal reasons like I mentioned aren't going to hit that limit, but  something like selling an apartment likely would, if the limitation applies to personal transactions and not just businesses.

 

 

Edited March 22 by Chris Parker