Russia Launches Digital Ruble and Consultation on Crypto Ban

The Bank of Russia started the pilot stage of the digital ruble intended to become an alternative to cryptocurrencies in Russia. At the same time, it renewed the call for a total ban on cryptocurrencies on the territory of the country.
At the time of writing, it is known that three banks have already allowed its customers to exchange rubles for their digital equivalent with nine others adjusting their systems to join these three soon.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank has once again called for a total ban on cryptocurrencies. Earlier this year, it proposed a blanket ban on operations such as issuance, exchange, and mining of cryptocurrencies and pointed out to the “illusion of government protection” that would be created if individuals are allowed to trade crypto through banks.

The Bank of Russia insists on an amendment of the digital assets law that would prohibit individuals and financial organizations from owning cryptocurrencies. However, the Finance Ministry as well as tech and financial industry figures voiced their concerns that developed countries do not ban cryptocurrencies but regulate them, and as the Finance Minister said: “banning crypto is like banning the Internet”.

As the disagreements between the Bank of Russia and the Finance Ministry persist, the latter announced the start of the development of laws regulating the digital assets’ ownership and usage.

According to the first of the two released notices, the Government is launching a public consultation regarding the establishment of a crypto bill. The consultations are expected to be finalized on March 18th.

The second notice details the amendments that might be made in some other federal laws as a result of the digital assets law amendment.