Russian officials continue to discuss cryptocurrencies

In previous years, the Russian government did not have many open internal discussions about the digital sphere. The controversial “Yarovaya Act” that basically allows the government to monitor the Internet messages of Russian residents (similar to the U.S. PRISM program) was a prime example of how the Kremlin viewed the innovations – suspicious, if not dangerous. The same approach was initially taken towards cryptocurrencies, the investigation by the Russian RBC.ru tells, but since then, it appears, the influential President changed his mind after listening to his most tech-savvy advisers.

However, cryptocurrencies were not immediately proclaimed legal as well. Instead, during the recent months we see a wide discussion involving various officials from the Ministry of Economy, the Central Bank, the State Duma (the parliament in Russia) and other bodies.

The Minister of Open Government, Mikhail Abyzov, told that cryptocurrencies are impossible to ignore or forbid in the near future. According to him, the issue is being actively discussed in the government and the conclusion is near. The authorities realize that by dull restrictiveness they will destroy the technological investment opportunity and so they will recognize cryptocurrency as a financial instrument and carefully regulate the technology, Abyzov added.

The head of the Central Bank, however, is not so enthusiastic. Elvira Nabiullina stated that cryptocurrencies look similar to financial pyramid schemes in a way that more and more investors are constantly being involved. “You know, we’re not legalizing pyramid schemes here. We should warn investors of high risks,” the head of the Central Bank stressed. Her suspicions might have emerged due to the recent rush provoked by the bullish trend that lasted until this week and by how everybody talked about Bitcoin as a source of income similarly to how everybody talked about financial pyramids in the 1990s when they were still not forbidden in Russia.

Boris Titov, the business ombudsman, tried to take both sides in his recent press briefing: he told that cryptocurrencies must, of course, be legalized, but all wallets should have a strict link to the real names of investors – the latter proposal was widely criticized by the cryptocurrency community since then. Moreover, this measure might prove very hard to implement in case of Monero altcoin, known for its anonymization solutions.