Abstract. This article analyses potential of crypto-currency usage in cross-border transactions with the Central Asia (CA) countries. Based on the statistics from the region the author came to the following conclusions. Nowadays, penetration of crypto-currencies in the local societies is low and it is substantially lower than in Russia. Relation to crypto-currencies is different in various countries of the CA, but everywhere they are prohibited for use as a means of payment. Additionally due to specifics of legislations of the CA countries, usage of crypto-currencies for cross-border transactions creates extra burden for local business because there are problems with legal conversion of received crypto-currencies into local ones. All these determine low propensity of the CA business to use crypto-currencies. While last two years mutual trade between Russia and the CA countries are mainly transacted in Roubles and this substantially decreases the need to recourse to such exotic instruments as crypto-currencies. Thus at the moment we see low potential of crypto-currency usage in transactions for trade between Russia and the CA countries. However, this may change in case the status of crypto-currencies in the latter countries substantially changes.