The Central bank of Russia is firmly against the use of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin (BTC), in paying for goods and services.
According to a report by a local news outlet, RIA Novosti today, financial regulators in the country stated that once there is a legislative approval to ban cryptos as a means of payment, they would give the necessary support needed to ensure the policy is carried out in full.
“We support the idea of introducing a ban on digital currencies as a means of payment,” the central bank confirmed.
The bank believes that the anonymous nature of cryptos makes it convenient to be used in conducting illicit activities, such as money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illegal activities.
As per the report, the regulators believe the ban would go a long way to mitigate the number of fraudulent activities perpetrated in the country.
Notably, the bank stated that there is a gap between fiat currencies and cryptocurrency while adding that the latter cannot be regarded as a legal tender.
In our opinion, private cryptocurrencies cannot be equated with fiat money and cannot be legal tender
Even though the country’s apex bank claims to be in support of fiat currencies over cryptos, recent reports indicate that the country is only concerned about the Ruble currency, as the bank recently issued a warning to Russian lenders not to conduct any transaction using the Euro.
The bank claimed that conducting financial transactions using the Euro would not contribute to the growth of the Russian economy because of the “negative interest rate environment in the Eurozone.”
This is not the first time the nation is refusing to consider cryptos as legal tender. However, Russia still believes there is a need to regulate its crypto space.
As previously reported, the Russian Finance Ministry plans to regulate the country’s crypto ecosystem, suggesting that these virtual currencies would be classified into three categories – Technical Tokens, Virtual Assets, and Digital Financial Assets.
