Teen Recruited as Russian Spy, Paid in Bitcoin
It sounds like something out of a spy thriller, but according to a Reuters investigation, Russian intelligence has been using Bitcoin to pay inexperienced recruits—some as young as 17. One such case involves Laken Pavan, a Canadian teenager who traveled to Donetsk in 2024 after being radicalized online.
The FSB—Russia’s security service—reportedly detained Pavan, pressured him into cooperation, and assigned him a handler known only as “Slon” (Russian for “elephant”). His mission? Gather intelligence across Europe. But it didn’t last long. After receiving just over $500 in Bitcoin from Slon, Pavan turned himself in to Polish authorities in Warsaw.
Following the Money
Blockchain analytics firms Global Ledger and Recoveris traced that $500 payment back to two intermediary wallets, which had received hundreds of thousands in Bitcoin from a much larger address created in 2022. The biggest wallet? It’s processed around $600 million in BTC—some of which ended up at sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex.
Neither firm could say for certain who owns these wallets, but the patterns suggest FSB involvement. Transactions happened strictly during Moscow business hours, and funds followed a structured laundering path—split, mixed with larger sums, and routed through unrelated deposit wallets.
A Wider Crypto Spy Network
Pavan’s case isn’t isolated. Recoveris says Russian intelligence has been “constantly financing” agents with crypto. In 2023, a group of young Belarusians and Ukrainians in Poland were reportedly paid by Russia’s GRU (military intelligence) to plant cameras, spread propaganda, and circulate fake news. Some were even funded to commit arson.
Marcin Zarakowski, Recoveris CEO, points out that these operations aren’t small-time. One suspected FSB-linked address belongs to a cluster of 161 Bitcoin wallets, with transactions consistently falling within Moscow’s 6 AM to 6 PM window.
Russia’s crypto use doesn’t stop at espionage. It’s also funding mercenaries in Donbas and, allegedly, paying European politicians to push pro-Russian narratives. With heavy sanctions in place, Bitcoin offers a workaround—instant, borderless payments that are harder to track than traditional banking.
But there’s a twist: crypto’s transparency might actually benefit Russian handlers. “They can monitor spending,” Zarakowski notes. “If an agent buys a coffee instead of, say, surveillance equipment, they’ll know.”
For now, it seems this digital spy game isn’t going anywhere. And with millions flowing through these wallets, it’s likely just the beginning.
