According to the Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Russian Ministry of Finance, Ivan Chebeskov, the ban on operations with cryptocurrencies and mining will lead to the country lagging behind in the high-tech industry. Therefore, the Ministry of Finance advocates the regulation of cryptocurrencies instead of banning them.
The director of the department stressed that the Ministry of Finance has already prepared a concept for regulating the crypto market and is waiting for the government’s reply.
“It is necessary to regulate, not prohibit. Regulation will protect citizens,” Chebeskov said. “Regulation will ensure the transparency that will help ensure the protection of citizens.”
On January 20, the Central Bank of Russia issued a report for public discussion, in which it proposed to introduce a ban on the issuance, circulation, and exchange of cryptocurrencies in Russia, as well as on the organization of these operations. The regulator considers it necessary to ban the mining of digital assets and start monitoring the investments of Russians in cryptocurrency on foreign trading platforms.
In particular, the Chairman of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, spoke out against conducting operations with cryptocurrency on the Russian financial infrastructure.
“You know that our attitude to cryptocurrencies, to put it mildly, is sceptical, due to the fact that these are big risks for retail investors, the volatility of this asset is very high. Cryptocurrencies are often used for illegal operations of a criminal nature, opaque, so we cannot welcome investments in such assets. And we advocate that the Russian financial infrastructure should not be used for transactions with cryptocurrency, it is quite possible to implement this,” she said.
Thus, at present, the Ministry of Finance has a prepared regulatory concept, which is being discussed within the Ministry and has already been sent to the government office.
Ru-Main, 26.01.2022
Source: Interfax
