The article is devoted to the analysis of the problem of the development of the cryptocurrency market, the markets of their circulation and the prospect of using them as a means of payment in international settlements of the Russian Federation in the context of increasing sanctions pressure. The author analyzes a group of social and economic factors that led to the emergence of cryptocurrencies. Special attention is paid to the disclosure of their technological essence of cryptocurrencies and their rewarding nature. The article examines in detail the history of the development of cryptocurrencies themselves, their circulation markets, the business essence of this means of payment and the path of its entry into the global economic system. The paper compares the European, Russian and Chinese ways of regulating the cryptocurrency market, the consequences, causes and features of the use of various methods of regulating the crypto market for national economies and their impact on the cost and demand of cryptocurrencies. Special attention is paid to the study of the problem of the practical use of cryptocurrencies on the territory of the Russian Federation and in its international settlements both at the state level and on the scale of individual enterprises. The author evaluates the possible prospects for the development of the Russian national cryptocurrency, and the use of bitcoin as an alternative means of domestic and international settlements of the Russian Federation. It is this aspect of the development of cryptocurrencies that is particularly important for the Russian market, which is in dire need of a means of payment that will help circumvent Western sanctions. The paper also reflects the problem of the attractiveness of the cryptocurrency market for criminal transactions and the difficulty of countering illegal transactions without seriously compromising the attractiveness of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment.