During a meeting with members of the Liberal Democratic Party, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin declared his stance in favor of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin (find out how to buy Bitcoin with PayPal).
For Mishustin, the time has come to integrate cryptocurrencies into his country's economy, which is why he believes it is necessary to activate the mechanisms that allow the circulation of digital currencies in the Russian financial system.
Renewed interest of the Russian government in cryptocurrencies
The official made these comments just days after the head of the Eurasian giant's energy committee, Pavel Zavalny, admitted that there is a possibility that Russia will accept cryptocurrencies for the sale of energy resources, such as gas and oil.
Although what Zalvany said did not seem official, now the prime minister's words seem to confirm that there is indeed a renewed interest of the Russian government in cryptocurrencies.
The prime minister's position was released on March 26 by local media, where it was reported that the official stressed that the cryptocurrency issue needs to be resolved together with the Central Bank.
With this, Mishustin referred to the anti-bitcoin stance openly declared by the Central Bank, which last January recommended a ban on cryptocurrencies. A recommendation that arose in a public debate in which President Vladimir Putin also participated, closing the discussion in favor of the advantage of bitcoin mining.
Controversy between the Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance.
The extreme position of the central bank, against bitcoin, has been denied by the Ministry of Finance, which did not look favorably on the idea of censoring a market that moves more than 2 trillion rubles (2,5 billion dollars) with an annual volume of transactions estimated at over $ 5 billion. Hence the recommendation to regulate and not prohibit.
Like the finance ministry, the prime minister believes steps should be taken to further regulate trading and mining of the pioneering cryptocurrency. He then recalled that last month the government approved the proposal presented by the finance portfolio, where the details of the regulation are outlined.
The plan underway, according to the Ministry of Finance, is that all cryptocurrency operations will be conducted through Russian banks, to which the exchanges will have to report. All agencies operating with bitcoin will have to enforce the know-your-customer policy (KYC) and hand over user data to the government. A regulation is therefore being prepared that will give the state strict control over the market.
This whole discussion took place just before Russia invaded Ukraine, starting the ongoing war conflict.
The plans continued in the midst of the war, as the State Duma, equivalent to the Legislative Assembly in Western countries, issued a statement earlier this month with an agenda focused on continuing the "Debates of the Bill on digital currency ". What do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below.
