Russia's Finance Ministry Wants to Ban Bitcoin, Not the Blockchain

russia flag
Though bitcoin regulation remains a divisive topic globally, there's perhaps no country that has kept the international bitcoin community guessing about the digital currency's future more than Russia.
For more than a year, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, the nation's economic lawmaking body, has been repeatedly and staunchly against allowing its use as an alternative to government-issued money. Just last month, for example, deputy finance minister Alexey Moiseev told CoinDesk that the Ministry was working on a draft law that would seek to punish those converting cryptocurrencies into the ruble with up to four years in prison.
Outside of these statements, however, the agency's opinion on bitcoin as a financial technology has been less clear.
Speaking to CoinDesk, Moiseev said that his office was dealing with bitcoin and its underlying technology in different ways:
"We feel that blockchain technology is very important in the development of various Internet-based services."
Nonetheless, Moiseev remained vocal about the dangers of bitcoin as a means for facilitating payments, though his comments displayed a less aggressive stance than has been outwardly projected by his agency.
"We appreciate the potential relevance of blockchain technology for the development of e-commerce and therefore we feel that it should be allowed and developed, but bitcoin themselves, in particular, the implementation of the bitcoin transactions into the real economy, in the real banking system can be very dangerous," he concluded.
Moiseev also elaborated on the reasons the Ministry of Finance believes new rules are necessary, citing the digital currency's association with money laundering and terrorism financing. But while Russia may be looking to potentially criminalise bitcoin-to-fiat conversions, Moiseev said that he did not perceive bitcoin to be a threat to Russia's national currency.

Bitcoin and terrorism

Since its emergence government regulators have struggled to determine how best to regulate digital currencies, and whether new laws need to be applied to businesses using the technology.
New York, for example, introduced unique state law governing its use, but despite its early movement on this issue, other US states have largely sought to update or apply past statutes to cover the technology.
Of the government organizations that have issued comments on digital currency, many are concerned about that the payment method is being used by cybercriminals, the evidence of which has encouraged fears bitcoin could be leveraged by terrorists, a view that has been given new attention in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris.
The topic of terrorism is clearly on Moiseev's mind as well, as the deputy finance minister expressed concerns about bitcoin potentially making the country's financial system more vulnerable to exploitation:
"We are very concerned about the potential developments there as we have built serious system of protection against money laundering and financing terrorism using conventional banking system. We are quite afraid of opening this window up by allowing a free convertibility of bitcoins into rubles and back."
He then went one step further, noting that Russia was monitoring how bitcoin was being regulated by its contemporaries in both Europe and elsewhere.
"We are looking at how bitcoins are being regulated, how they are being protected from potential abuse by money launderers and terrorists," he added.

Crypto in Russia

Despite adding clarity to the conversation, Moissev's comments don't successfully foretell how the technology will be regulated in Russia.
Russia's central bank has indicated it is against measures that would outlaw its use, and the organization's view was supported by President Vladimir Putin when he discussed digital currencies for the first time in July this year.
At the time, Putin backed the Bank of Russia's advocacy for the technology but also implied that bitcoin is "backed by nothing", and thus might require special oversight.
Although bitcoin's future remains uncertain in Russia, it is perhaps safe to say that crypto enthusiasts can remain at ease at least for now. The draft law – which would criminalise bitcoin conversions – pursued by the Ministry of Finance is being reviewed by the Cabinet, a process which is expected to take a few months, and will then have to be submitted to the country's Parliament for final approval.
For a more detailed look at bitcoin's history in Russia check out our interactive timeline.

Russia flag image via Shutterstock

Komentar

Posting Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

Transformation of education in post-industrial society

Gambar
Education has always been an expensive privilege; and the education sector has always been one of the most conservative. People chose profession once in their life and did not change it until retirement. Usually education meant studying at a university; self-taught people were rare. However, in the post-industrial society changes in the shape, sense and affordability of education finally began. According to Alvin Toffler, a well-known US sociologist, the emergence of the post-industrial society is a consequence of the intellectual revolution. The possession of knowledge and information will replace financial capital as the biggest value. Development of innovations, empowered by the most educated, will become the most important sector of economy. It means that high-quality affordable education will become even more important than now. The last time when the global education experienced a serious transformation was at the very beginning of the 21st century when the wide access to the I...
Baca selengkapnya

Blockchain Supply Chain Forum will be held on January 10th in Hong Kong

Gambar
The concept of a blockchain – a distributed, tamper-proof and time-stamped database of transactions that can be managed without intermediaries – is highly attractive in the supply chain domain, and the industry has launched a number of proof-of-concept initiatives. However, awareness of how blockchains work and what they can accomplish for supply chain is still relatively low. The lack of knowledge is exacerbated by the fast pace at which the technology is evolving. A success Blockchain Supply Chain Forum was held on October 24th in Shanghai, professional blockchain organizer EventLinker and Global Supply Chain Council will organize the Blockchain Supply Chain Forum on January 10th in Hong Kong, it is the forum connecting blockchain experts, supply chain and logistics decision makers and tech innovators. This intimate gathering will explore how companies are investigating the use and deployment of the technology to help their supply chains in China. Organizer: EventLinker ...
Baca selengkapnya

After GDPR effect? In A Post Cookie World, Blockchain Is Rising

Gambar
The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was rolled out in May this year. It introduced far-reaching implications for companies which process personal data related to EU citizens. Even those far outside the EU could not fail to notice this change. Email inboxes were overflowing with opt-out reminders. Cookie banners now obscure many websites, forcing users to agree to a privacy policy so that they can browse the content on the site. Although the GDPR document itself clocks in at 88 pages, the majority of what it covers can be summed up in one word — consent. If companies are processing personal data, it must be done with the explicit, informed consent of the individual. For some forms of marketing, such as email subscriber lists, this involved minimal changes. Individuals already have to take the active step of providing their email addresses, and usually it is pretty clear why they are asked to do so. However, for the digital advertising industry, consent is far less ...
Baca selengkapnya