The Central Bank of Russia disagrees with certain positions of Rusia’s Ministry of Finance on the burning matter of issuing, mining, and circulation of cryptocurrencies – the complete ban of which it had proposed in a report it presented recently.
Central Bank’s report, prompted the intervention of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who recommended that the Central Bank and the government should discuss the issue and come to a unified view on the matter – while pointing out that Russia has advantages in the field of cryptocurrency mining, but also has several advantages in the field of cryptocurrencies.
The Russian Ministry of Finance, following the publication of the Central Bank’s report on an almost complete ban on cryptocurrencies in Russia, submitted its own proposals for regulating this market to the Russian government.
The Central Bank of Russia says in its statement that the Finance Ministry’s proposal to allow cryptocurrencies to enter the Russian financial system poses a huge risk to its stability.
Central Bank of Russia Position
On 21 January, Russia’s Central Bank published a report entitled “Cryptocurrencies: trends, risks, measures“, in which, in order to reduce threats from the spread of cryptocurrencies, it proposed to ban the issuance, mining, and circulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia, as well as transactions with cryptocurrencies. At the same time, it proposed the introduction of measures for violations of this ban.
Russia’s Ministry of Finance Position
The Finance Ministry’s proposal, as stated on 25 January by Ivan Chebeskov, Director of the Ministry’s Financial Policy Department, provides for regulations regarding the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia, but not their prohibition.
The RBC newspaper reported today, citing a related document and a letter from the Finance Ministry to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernisenko, that one of the Finance Ministry’s proposals is that all cryptocurrency transactions be conducted through Russian banks.
According to the newspaper, the Finance Ministry believes that if there are no regulations in relation to cryptocurrencies or if they are banned, the industry will be destabilized, the share of the underground economy will increase and fraud will increase, while law enforcement agencies will not be able to effectively respond to criminal activities related to cryptocurrency transactions.
Earlier, Rosfinmonitoring (Federal Service for Financial Supervision) told TASS that it supports the Finance Ministry’s position on cryptocurrencies, while yesterday, Wednesday, the Ministry of Economic Development said that it does not consider a complete ban on cryptocurrencies and digital financial assets in Russia advisable and that it is necessary to carefully study the international experience of taxation in this area, including the cases of Germany and Japan, and make the best choice.