Finance Feeds logo

Central Bank of Russia says too early to talk about legalization of cryptocurrencies

Maria Nikolova

There is no unified position on the possible regulation of crypto-currencies in Russia, the “Megaregulator” said.

bitcoin

The Central Bank of Russia, or the so-called “Megaregulator” for Russia’s financial markets, has just provided a sobering comment regarding speculation that crypto-currencies may be legalized in the country as early as in 2018. The possible legal recognition of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin in Russia was suggested by Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev in an interview with Bloomberg.

The words of Mr Moiseev created a wave of enthusiasm among crypto-currency fans in Russia, but the nation’s central bank has just poured cold water on all this. Maxim Grigoriev, Chief of the Centre for Financial Technologies at the Bank of Russia, told TASS news agency that it was too early to talk of legalization of crypto-currencies in Russia. He added that the status of crypto-currencies in Russia is still a subject of discussion for the Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring). There is no unified position on this, he said.

Back in 2014, the Bank of Russia issued its famous statement outlawing Bitcoin. But its stance has softened a bit since. In February 2016, for instance, the “Megaregulator” started warming up towards new technologies associated with virtual currencies and announced the establishment of a group engaged in the analysis of the innovations and promising technologies in the financial market. The list of priority study questions for the group includes new developments in the mobile and payment areas, as well as exploration of distributed ledger technologies (like blockchain).

Russia’s Ministry of Finance also seems to have made a u-turn towards embracing crypto-currencies. The positive comments by Mr Moiseev are in sharp contrast with earlier proposals by the Ministry to introduce harsh penalties for Bitcoin-related activities. These penalties include seven years of imprisonment, a ban from taking certain roles in the financial services sector, as well as fines of up to RUB 2.5 million.

In January 2017, however, Mr Moiseev said that Russia’s Central Bank and the Federal Financial Monitoring Service did not see any threats associated with the use of crypto-currencies. The implementation of the “anti-Bitcoin law” once proposed by the Ministry of Finance has been put to a halt.

Subscribe

Read this next

Fintech

TNS brings full-stack market data management to EMEA

“We are also delighted to have Ben Myers join our London-based TNS Financial Markets team as Head of Strategic Sales for EMEA, to bolster our presence in the region.”

Chainwire

Velocity Labs and Ramp Network facilitate fiat to crypto onramp on Polkadot via Asset Hub support

Velocity Labs is proud to announce a fiat to crypto onramp using Ramp Network through the integration of Asset Hub. Through it, Ramp will be able to service any parachain in the Polkadot ecosystem.

Symbol of Ramp network
Executive Moves

INFINOX hires Mayne Ayliffe as Global Head of HR

“I look forward to working with our teams around the world to develop a strategic HR agenda that supports high performance and is centred on human motivation.”

Mayne Ayliffe joins INFINOX
Fintech

Sterling to provide risk and margin support for fixed income

“Firms must have the tools to effectively manage their risk across all asset classes. As yields rise, we see more exposure from clients in the fixed income space. We understand their need to measure and mitigate risk in a highly regulated environment.”

Retail FX

FXOpen launches HK share CFDs: Tencent, Alibaba, Xiaomi, Baidu

Hong Kong share CFDs will be commission-free for a limited period of time.

Retail FX

IronFX Celebrates an Award-Winning Start to 2024 with a Series of Industry Recognitions

IronFX, a global leader in online trading, has embarked on 2024 with a spectacular display of accolades that highlight its commitment to excellence and innovation in the competitive financial services sector.

Industry News

FIA urges CFTC to regulate use cases rather than AI itself

“We urge the CFTC to refrain from crafting new regulations that generally regulate AI because this approach presents certain well-known pitfalls. By approaching the issue from the perspective of AI as a technology, rather than the use case for the technology, corresponding regulations would likely necessitate a definition of AI. We anticipate that any attempt to properly define AI would be very challenging and require considerable resources.”

Education, Inside View

The Power of Public Relations in Finance: Shaping Perceptions & Building Reputation

It’s safe to say that the finance industry has faced its share of reputation crises over the years, from the 2008 financial collapse to the many scandals around irresponsible lending, political corruption, and even Ponzi schemes. 

Journalists interviewing a man with blue and red microphone
Digital Assets

Crossover’s crypto ECN executed over $3 billion in Q1 2024

“Our growth is also driving continued increases in the percentages of trades that are ‘Order Crossing Order’ (OXO). Currently, roughly 10% of all trades executed on CROSSx are OXO, another differentiator in our platform’s capacity. This capacity and our unique execution model provide value to both the market maker and taker, as evidenced by our commercial model.”

<
✖