The director of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, has been the last official to confirm that the country is considering the idea of payments with cryptocurrencies, but not national ones.
According to Nabiullina, cryptocurrencies can be used for cross-border or international payments only if they do not enter the domestic financial system of Russia.
The digital currency must not be used as payment on platforms within Russia, the Bank of Russia executive said in an interview with local news agency RBC. For that, cryptocurrency prices are too unstable or volatile, making them risky for retail investors, Nabiullina argued:
“Cryptocurrencies should not be traded on organized markets because these assets are too volatile, too risky for potential investors.”
Nabiullina went on to say that digital assets must comply with all requirements and policies created to protect investors. Thus, all assets listed on exchanges must have an issuance prospectus and a responsible person, in addition to complying with information disclosure requirements.
In April, the director called on the government to focus on fostering the development of digital asset projects issued by a responsible person. He contrasted this view with that of private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), which have no one in charge, while the Bitcoin creator has not been identified absolutely.
Nabiullina’s latest statements provide further confirmation that Russia could be preparing to start using cryptocurrencies in international trade. In May, the first deputy head of the Russian central bank, Ksenia Yudaeva stated that the Bank of Russia was open to allowing the use of cryptocurrencies for international payments.
In October 2021, the Russian president Vladimir Putin declared that it was “still premature” to use cryptocurrencies to settle operations of energy resources such as oil.
As interest in international cryptocurrency payments grows, the Russian government has also been doing everything it can to prevent Russians from using cryptocurrencies for payments within the country. After officially banning crypto payments as part of Russia’s major cryptocurrency bill in January 2021, Local lawmakers approved another bill on Tuesday in first reading to ban the use of digital financial assets.
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