The real story isn't whether Russia's economy collapses — it's that Putin has made the war structurally "too big to fail," meaning even internal financial panic won't force a negotiated exit; the regime will monetize the crisis before it concedes.
Russia's crypto evasion architecture (ruble → Tether → offshore reconversion via UAE-registered P2P shells) is the same playbook North Korea uses for DPRK laundering, and the EU crypto ban threat could trigger a DeFi regulatory cascade that hits legitimate on-chain traders globally.