By Nathan Ferguson
While the central bank of Russia is pursuing an outright prohibition over crypto, the Finance Ministry of the country has recommended a regulatory agenda for the crypto industry. The respective framework permits the execution of crypto transactions through the banking system of Russia, with the identification and monitoring of traders.
Crypto regulation rather than prohibition
As per a report published on the behalf of RBU (a media outlet) on the 27th of this January, the Finance Ministry is suggesting for a modality to monitor crypto transactions across Russia-based conventional financial organizations. As included in the proposal, the finance ministry wishes for the protocols of comprehensive consumer identification to collaborate with the regulated digital currency transactions across the country.
Some earlier reports pointed out that the central bank of the country was moving towards an outright ban over the industry of cryptocurrency throughout the country. In addition to categorizing the whole industry as a pyramid scheme, the bank stated that the autonomous monetary policy, as well as the financial stability of Russia, is threatened by digital assets. The bank additionally discussed the mining of cryptocurrency, claiming that such an operation of intensive energy consumption was totally against the green agenda of Russia.
Interestingly, the operations of crypto mining are spreading across the country, turning it into the third-biggest mining center following Kazakhstan and United States. Nonetheless, the Financial Policy Department’s Director at Finance Ministry – Ivan Chebeskov – went against the prohibition of crypto. As per him, the industry’s regulation seems to be a relatively beneficial move to adopt.
Chebeskov moved on to state that the Finance Ministry in advance has developed a regulatory agenda to be implemented in the government apparatus. In his words, the world is turning into a virtualized space, and the Russian government needs to produce an environment suitable for the development of the technologies like crypto. Thus, he added, the Finance Ministry is enthusiastically involved in the legislative initiatives required for the regulation of the digital asset industry.
Putin nods for crypto mining
Even though the central bank insists on maintaining a strict stance to confront crypto, Vladimir Putin – the President of Russia – has endorsed crypto, particularly the sector of mining. He argued that Russia would acquire some competitive benefits by permitting the activities of crypto mining. As per Bloomberg, a few of the government sources have asserted that the president is focused on the regulated mining of crypto to utilize the supply of extra electricity.