Mishustin expressed his position in favor of Bitcoin, saying Russia must activate its circulation in the economy. The official stated that the Central Bank must help resolve the issue with cryptocurrencies, as the institution is against Bitcoin.

Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian Prime Minister, supported cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin during a meeting with the Liberal Democratic Party.

Mishustin considers that it is time to integrate cryptocurrencies into the economic system of Russia. For that reason, he believes it necessary to activate the circulation of digital currencies.

The chairman of the Committee on Energy Committee, Pavel Zavalny, recently admitted Russia might trade energy resources like gas and oil in cryptocurrencies.

Although the words of Zavalny were unofficial, the comments from Mishustin seem to confirm a renewed interest from the Russian government in cryptocurrencies.

Translations by tweeters indicate that Zavalny did not state any plans to include Bitcoin in their commercial exchanges. However, they might consider it among currencies from friendly countries, like the Chinese yuan (CNY) and the Turkish lira (TRY).

The position of the Russian Prime Minister became public knowledge in local media. The official stressed that the Central Bank must help them resolve the issue with cryptocurrencies.

With that, Mishustin referred to the open stance against Bitcoin of the financial institution, which recommended banning cryptocurrencies. That led to a public debate where President Vladimir Putin participated, favoring Bitcoin mining.

The Central Bank also suggests ending the issuance of cryptocurrencies by prohibiting mining and stopping their circulation on exchanges and P2P platforms. In that sense, they consider it necessary to ban financial organizations, instruments, and intermediaries from conducting transactions with cryptocurrencies.

The Controversy between the Central Bank of Russia and Finance

The Ministry of Finance disproved the extreme position against Bitcoin of the Central Bank. They did not accept the idea of censoring a market that moves over 2 trillion rubles (RUB), equivalent to USD 2.5 billion. For that reason, they recommend regulating it instead of banning it.

Likewise, the Prime Minister considers that they should take measures to regulate Bitcoin mining further. He recalled the government approved the bill introduced by the financial entity, which outlined the details of the regulation, in February.

On January 27th, the Executive submitted the draft law after the Central Bank stated it was considering the possibility of outlawing cryptocurrencies. They argued that those assets could cause financial instability, which a director of the Ministry of Finance refuted later.

According to the Ministry of Finance, the plan is to conduct all cryptocurrency transactions through Russian banks. All organizations that operate with Bitcoin must apply the know-your-customer (KYC) policy and share user data with the government.

The debate between the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank occurred before the invasion of Ukraine.

During the war, the plans have continued to resolve the issue with crypto assets in the Eurasian nation. The State Duma, equivalent to the Legislative Assembly, announced that they would continue discussing the Digital Currency Bill.

By Alexander Salazar

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