Ministers and the Central Bank Talk About “Building Russian Crypto Exchanges”

Posted by cryptonews Crypto News August 16, 2024 2.5k Views

Finance minister says legislation could roll out in State Duma’s upcoming fall session

As the nation continues its shift to cryptoassets, Moscow ministers and the Central Bank are debating a plan to “create” Russian cryptocurrency exchanges.

Per the state-run news agency TASS, Anton Siluanov, the Minister of Finance has held talks with the bank about the proposed “creation of legal crypto exchanges in Russia.”

Russian Crypto Exchanges: Moscow in New Crypto Pivot?

Siluanov said that the parties had not yet settled on a mutually agreeable “solution.”

However, he asserted that the necessary legislation “may be ready for the fall session” of the State Duma, suggesting that a breakthrough was imminent.

“We have legalized our own mining industry and the possibility of paying for foreign [goods and services] with the Bitcoin we mine. Now a question of additional regulation remains – namely, the creation of our own legal crypto exchanges.”Anton Siluanov

The minister noted that existing Russian crypto exchanges still operate in a regulatory “grey zone.”

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov. (Source: MaslovaN [CC BY-SA 4.0])

Crypto exchanges are not subject to Russian government regulation and have no official legal status under Russian law.

Siluanov called recent legislative efforts to police crypto in Russia “significant progress.”

President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies are the long-serving Siluanov and the equally long-serving Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina.

The topic of cryptocurrency regulation, however, has the two at odds with one another. Nabiullina is a fervent opponent of cryptocurrencies, whereas Siluanov takes a more liberal stance.

This resulted in a protracted deadlock over cryptocurrency policy, which was only broken recently when Putin gave them the order to expedite regulatory efforts.

As a result of the order, legislation controlling cryptocurrency mining in Russia and its application in international trade have been expedited.

Putin approved both laws this month. As of right now, they are scheduled to take effect on September 1.

But a crucial question still stands: What will happen to the coins that miners and traders produce? The bank is against allowing miners and trading companies to inject cryptocurrency into the Russian economy.

Will Russian Miners Sell Crypto Overseas, or on the Domestic Market?

The bank has stated in the past that it wants Russian companies to sell their coins on international marketplaces.

Opponents contend that this will result in money laundering and that exchanges that deal with Russian mining pools may face sanctions from Western governments.

Rather, a number of politicians have proposed setting up cryptocurrency exchanges backed by the Russian government.

The exchanges in St. Petersburg and Moscow have both indicated an interest in trading cryptocurrencies.

Russian Miners Focus on Bitcoin

Legislators have also proposed opening up state-run cryptocurrency exchanges to qualified investors.

The ministry might be attempting to reconsider these plans, even though the Central Bank has already rejected them in the past.

Some speculate that they might be a workaround that enables certain Russian businesses to transact with foreign banks.

According to reports from Russian media outlets, a number of regional banks have ceased doing business with Moscow due to concerns about potential secondary sanctions from the West.

Industry leaders have stated that the great majority (more than 90%) of Russian industrial miners concentrate their efforts on Bitcoin.

Smaller groups of miners, however, claim that they would rather mine high-cap altcoins like Litecoin (LTC) and others.

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