Elvira Nabiullina, Governor of the Bank of Russia, has admitted that the Russian central bank may have taken too hard a stance on digital assets and should reconsider.
Thursday, The Russian State Duma reappointed Nabiullina as Governor of the Bank of Russia, marking the third time she has held the post since she began in 2013.
At the official Duma session, Nabiullina spoke about the numerous measures that Russia has taken and plans to take to help the government mitigate the impact of massive Western sanctions against the Russian economy.
As part of the government’s measures to maintain the economy, the Bank of Russia is working to bring the issue of digital financial assets to a “working state”declared Nabiullina.
He noted that Russia adopted its cryptocurrency-related law “On Digital Financial Assets” more than a year ago, but it did not help the country to get many “real projects”. The Russian government is about to pass another legal initiative, the “On Digital Currency” bill, which is designed to clarify regulations around cryptocurrency trading and mining.
Nabiullina hinted that the Bank of Russia might reconsider its tough stance on the digital asset industry, stating:
“We have to see if we are too strict in this aspect and we have to relax these projects on digital financial assets. This can become another channel to attract financing through digital financial assets.”
Nabiullina stressed that the government should focus on encouraging the development of digital asset initiatives that have a “responsible person” issuing them, in contrast to private cryptocurrencies, which do not have a responsible party.
He noted that the Bank of Russia is still discussing issues related to cryptocurrency mining with the government to come to a systematic decision. He added that decisions related to cryptocurrency mining are not the direct purview of the central bank.
In his testimony, Nabiullina also discussed Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), stating that the Bank of Russia expects to conduct the first real settlements with the digital ruble as early as 2023.
“We are certainly looking to implement it [el rublo digital] for international settlements,” Nabiullina said, adding that Russia is among the world leaders in terms of CBDC development, following countries like China.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, The Bank of Russia has taken a hostile stance towards Bitcoin (BTC), as well as the digital asset industry in general. The central bank has not only banned local banks from offering Bitcoin investments, but was also apparently preventing the country’s largest bank, Sberbank, from launching its own digital asset issuance platform.
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