dailyhodl.com
Russians will not be prohibited from trading cryptocurrencies, according to a report by the country’s news agency Interfax.
Weeks after China imposed a ban on crypto trading, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev says that Russians will still be allowed to trade crypto assets, but with one important distinction.
“Citizens can buy and use wallets outside the Russian Federation. So it will remain, I think. There are no plans yet [to] change something.
A Russian citizen can have a wallet open outside the Russian Federation, but it is operations within the Russian Federation that they will be subject to bans, I think, for the entire foreseeable future, due to the fact that this is financial sovereignty.”
Moiseev says that the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment inside Russia will remain illegal.
“The position now is a ban on operations with cryptocurrencies on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
In August of 2020, Russia declared cryptocurrencies legal after recognizing crypto assets as property. A piece of legislation signed into law last year further defined cryptocurrencies as a means of saving and investing, but not of payment.
The legislation also allowed Russian commercial banks and cryptocurrency exchanges to buy, sell or facilitate the exchange of crypto assets after obtaining registration from the country’s central bank.
A survey conducted in August by Russia’s Association of Forex Dealers found that 77% of the respondents viewed crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC) as the “most forward-looking” of investments.
Gold and national currencies were seen as better investments by 8.8% and 14% of the respondents, respectively.