“We do not welcome investments in cryptocurrencies,” said Elvira Nabiullina, governor of the Central Bank of Russia.
At a press conference on Friday, the Governor of the Central Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina raised fears, uncertainties, and suspicions (FUD) around the state of crypto regulation. When asked about the growth of digital assets, reported by local news agency finmarket.ru further translated in english made the following comments:
“You know that our attitude towards cryptocurrencies is small, very risky, and associated with significant fluctuations in the assets of retail investors. We are trying to prevent issues in addition, cryptocurrencies are often used indiscriminately and this is absolutely doable as thus we seek forward to protect the Russian Financial Infrastructure to prevent crypto-based transactions”.
Nabiulina’s comments came after controversial reports suggested that Russia could impose a ban on cryptocurrency exchanges. As recently reported, concerns about crypto have even reached the presidency, with Vladimir Putin warning about digital assets.
In this case, the countries of the former Soviet Union are more prone to economic crimes such as money laundering or tax evasion than their Western counterparts. The privatisation of state-owned enterprises since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been concentrated in the hands of individuals who at that time had the “capital” needed to buy shares – mafias, gangsters, and black-market partners.
In comparison, Crypto’s anonymous, borderless, instantaneous, and uncontrollable behaviour further contributes to criminal activity in this area. To partially solve the problem, Russia is prioritising the development of the regulatory-compliant digital ruble as an important competitor to cryptocurrencies developed in the private sector.
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