Contradicting reports have appeared in Russia regarding the regulatory affairs of the cryptocurrency on December 16, 2021. First, according to a report released by Reuters, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is planning to ban crypto investments, citing its risk on the monetary stability of the country. Currently, the national bank is already preparing to release an advisory statement on the issue.
‘You know that our attitude towards cryptocurrencies is of, to put it mildly, skepticism. Related to this are the significant risks for retail investors and the substantial volatility for this type of asset. In addition, cryptocurrencies are opaque in that they are frequently used for illegal operations or criminal nature. Therefore, we cannot welcome investments in them. We seek to prevent the Russian financial infrastructure from using crypto transactions. This is quite doable’, Central Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina stated in a report by finmarket.ru.
According to a source stated in the Reuters report, once the ban is adopted, the central bank plans to reject every digital currency in the market.
Chairman of the Duma Committee Anatoly Aksakov, on the other hand, released a statement in a press conference on the same day where he seeks to regulate and legalise crypto exchanges.
‘There are very tough approaches that completely prohibit the acquisition, ownership of cryptocurrencies. There is an approach that there should be appropriate crypto exchanges, exchanges are legalized so that everything is transparent, understandable to regulatory bodies, and of the same Federal Tax Service (FTS) it would be easier to tax these transactions’, Aksakov said.
Aksakov has also expressed his support for the regulation of cryptocurrency mining, mentioning mining taxation and business electricity consumption, to name a few. According to the high-ranking lawmaker, the matter should be settled in the spring season of the Russian Parliament for clear-cut regulations in 2023.
As of the moment, the future of cryptocurrencies in the country seems positive as Russian authorities prioritize the public launch of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) ruble. The CBDC will be released in December 2021 and its testing stages will commence in January 2022.
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