Russian Central Bank does not see benefits in non-state cryptocurrency legalization

The Russian government’s opinion on cryptocurrency is almost as volatile as the cryptocurrency market. While one official can support legalization or imply that without it, Russia would lose a perspective market, another can think completely different at the same time. Those who are interested in Russian politics know that usually, the position of this country’s government on many issues is very unified and solid.

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Central Bank of Russia, does not consider cryptocurrency legalization appropriate at this moment. The statement was made at the Finopolis 2017 economic forum in Sochi. However, she sees many opportunities in the blockchain technology.

“We consider various blockchain implementation opportunities, and yes, it can work in financial messaging and registrate deals,” Nabiullina told. “The national digital currency, probably blockchain-based — we are discussing this topic. We are talking about national, not private currency here. We know that many central banks around the world are discussing this. This is in the research stage, it’s too early to jump to conclusions,” the head of the Central Bank added.

Meanwhile, another representative of the Central Bank told TASS what he thinks about the recent incident when a man in Obninsk bought fake, physical bitcoins from local scammers.

“This case surpasses our understanding of the [crypto] risks a bit. There’s a word - ‘bitcoin’ - and it turns out there’s a social group who can be just told ‘we’re selling bitcoins’ and they’re rushing to buy it because they expect to get rich. And they don’t even know what Bitcoin actually is and it cannot be bought like that - doesn’t even cross their mind… We have a website, a financial literacy portal, and if such things happen, then it’s better to explain it more and simpler”, told the head of Consumer Rights Protection department in the Central Bank. He added that the Central Bank is going to pay attention to this theme later and talk about it more to minimize future similar risks for Russian citizens.