Proposed Bitcoin Ban in Russia Could Be Revised in the Future
While Russian authorities are currently going through the notions to enforce a ban on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, the hardline stance could change in the future.
The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (also known as Rosfinmonitoring) has revealed that while the cryptocurrency ban is being considered as an applicable measure, it does not rule out that such a stance against bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies could be revised over time.
The possibility of a regulatory change that’s different to a sweeping ban was made in statements by Pavel Livadny, State Secretary and Deputy Director of Rosfinmonitoring.
As reported by Russian news agency RIA Novosti , Livadny was speaking at a conference where he stated, “At present, prepared in accordance with the presidential order [of a] bill prohibiting trafficking cryptocurrency in Russia – this is a measure that we believe is possible and applicable.”
The statement about the cryptocurrency ban comes during a time when the Russian Finance Ministry is looking to fast-track the bill through the State Duma – the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament – before the end of the current session in August. That effort looks futile, for now, with the bitcoin ban bill being delayed due to criticism toward the bill from reviewers.
Notably, Livadniy added:
At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that this tool is developed throughout the world and, perhaps, after a while, we will have to look at this problem from several different angles.
The comment from the Rosfinmonitoring official acknowledging the innovation of bitcoin as one that is without boundaries and adopted around the world is in contrast to those of Russia’s Presidential Advisor, German Klimenko, who recently dismissed bitcoin’s acceptance around the world as “fiction.”
Russian officials have been speaking about bitcoin, the blockchain and cryptocurrencies in Fintech conferences in recent times and a better understanding of the innovation is seemingly permeating about.
While there are those that call for the criminal liability for Bitcoin, with authorities also proposing a 7-year ban for using cryptocurrencies, the deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia (Russia’s Central Bank) recently spoke about the possibility of developing a national digital currency in Russia.
Her comments about a national digital currency come after research done by a “working group” into blockchain technology, established by the Bank of Russia.
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