Moscow (awp/afp) – The Russian Central Bank published a report on Thursday proposing a ban on “mining”, contributing to the creation of cryptoassets, as well as investments and payments in cryptocurrencies in the country, where the latter have been flourishing for several years.
“In order to reduce the threats caused by the spread of cryptocurrencies”, the Bank of Russia proposes to modify the legislation prohibiting any activity related to cryptocurrencies in the country, calling for similar measures to be taken in the countries of the Economic Union Eurasian region, which brings together many countries of the former Soviet bloc.
The institution cites the volatility of these “currencies” and their illegal uses.
Their use would threaten “the well-being of Russian citizens, the stability of the financial system”, the report said, saying that the growth of the sector in recent years was based on speculation.
The Central Bank cites a September 2020 study that Russia ranks 2nd out of 154 countries in the use of cryptocurrencies, just after Ukraine and ahead of Venezuela.
“The volume of cryptocurrency transactions in Russia in 2019-2020, relative to the population and the size of the economy, was very high,” notes the Bank, estimating it at five billion dollars.
Cryptocurrencies obtained legal status in 2020 and the Parliament and certain ministries spoke out in favor of the legalization and regulation of “mining”, an essential step in the constitution of the chain of blocks (or “blockchain”) on which is a cryptocurrency.
The Central Bank has long spoken in negative terms of cryptocurrencies, highlighting their possible use for fraud or to finance terrorist activities.
According to Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, the Russian secret services are the main carriers of this ban, cryptocurrency payments being a popular tool to fund the opposition or “undesirable” organizations, a status that Russia continues to expand. to various civil society actors.
By March 1, the Central Bank has promised to give further details in view of possible new laws.
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