I know that Ruble will be in a free fall, but cryptos are not stable either. So it's like buying Ruble, but with extra steps.
What ordinary people desperately need is assets they can hide from their government to preserve some wealth. However, because it is 2022, they also have the option of assets that literally nobody can take off them. It'd be worth a shot, maybe the legal situation will be different in 5-10 years and if they invest in a crypto they'll be able to trade it for something.
I like their odds in literally anything more than odds in the Russian rouble. So crypto would make sense.
I doubt that a government who pioneered cyberwarfare will be unable to locate your bitcoins; and once you do that, to acquire them they only need some goon with a monkeywrench - of which, I'm sure, there is no scarcity in Russia right now.
Don’t oversell it: this is a government with advanced internet monitoring capabilities and little concern about civil liberties. Make one opsec mistake or transact with someone who does, show unexplained money, etc. and then it’s “turn over the key if you want to see your children out of prison”. Blockchains are exceptionally risky here because they require a lot of visible network activity and leave a full history of your activity for the authorities.
And they can skim off the top of all Russians at once. Even bitcoin is a pretty uncontestable step up - fiat currencies are bad for storing wealth at the best of times but this is really not the best of times. This is the time to flee a sinking ship.
Otherwise there's exchanges which still operate within Russia for the time being and some business (tho too rare to be useful but In a big city, if you don't have funds others than what was sent to you, you might be able to buy more than otherwise) accept it though I wouldn't rely on that too much unless you know a specific one.
Where might I find one of these (near mythical) beasts?
https://www.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-atm/
I've been seeing them occasionally in big cities since 2014-15 though again it's never worth it at least for me - the exchange rate is typically pretty bad and I'd rather wait but go through a low fee/feeless option.
However, not everyone can receive or send rubles as easily to/from the west especially after the SWIFT and related bans. Either way, it doesn't hurt to have the extra option.
At some point the flow does have to exit to something that a corporation or ministry controls; so an exchange business will necessarily appear, even if it's extremely high risk; someone will be in a position to pull strings. It's not a stretch when you look at how countries with weak local currencies have been operating for decades, just usually with USD as the preferred trade currency instead.
Anyway, do you have a better way how to store wealth or savings in such situations? Crypto seems like a very good option.
I don't have a better way, but I'm just saying that crypto is also not a good way.
Russia is not a country of people living on the edge of starvation. They have savings and save up to buy houses like any middle class people.
0: https://www.valuepenguin.com/banking/average-savings-account...
So Russians might not be on the edge of starvation but I imagine that a substantial minority could find themselves close to that edge quite quickly.
And to your response, maybe instead disallowing all people crypto, let's make it easier for everyone. Times like this make it more clear than ever that crypto is not just a "solution looking for a problem".