The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is open to allowing the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for international payments, according to a report from Reuters.
“In principle, we do not object to the use of cryptocurrency in international transactions,” said first deputy governor of the central bank, Ksenia Yudaeva.
However, the financial authority’s open-mindedness only stretches so far.
Yudaeva continued to explain “We still believe that the active use of cryptocurrency within the country, especially within Russia’s financial infrastructure, creates great risks for citizens and users. We believe that in our country those risks could be reasonably large.”
The continued Russian debate on not only the use of currencies like bitcoin, but also the process of mining bitcoin have become hot-button topics over the last year. Just this January, the central bank proposed a blanket ban on mining bitcoin.
Russia’s President took the opposing position of the central bank stating “Although, of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining,” referring to the nation’s natural climate and energy surpluses.
The Russian government proposed a bill seeking to regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. At the time, Andrey Lugovoy, first deputy head of the Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption for the State Duma, the federal assembly of the Russian Federation, said:
“When we talk about digital financial assets, about cryptocurrency, about the crypto market, we must understand that we are not just trying to amend certain bills, we are trying to regulate a new entity that the whole world is facing, and we must determine our position.”
Russia’s Ministry of Finance followed the government’s proposal with a bill of its own which intended to respect the Bitcoin ecosystem and empower those operating businesses within the space by assigning regulatory practices. Now, some members of the Russian Federation believe bitcoin is only a matter of time.
Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, offered his opinion on May 18:
“The question is when it will happen, how it will happen and how it will be regulated. Now both the Central Bank and the government are actively engaged in this.”