Russia
Photo: Getty Images / Thomas Trutschel
Today it became known about the opinion of the Central Bank concerning legalization криптовалют in Russia . In particular, the head of the department of the Center for Financial Technologies of the Bank of Russia Maxim Grigoriev said that it is too early to talk about the legalization of the turnover of the crypto currency. This issue is under discussion between the Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and Rosfinmonitoring, writes Tass.
At the same time, earlier this week, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said that operations with bitcoins and other types of crypto-currency can be legalized Russia as early as 2018. The official explained that the state can take this step in the fight against illegal money transfers.
Grigoryev partly confirmed his words, saying that in 2018 the position of the regulator on the crypto currency will be known: “We are now communicating with the Ministry of Finance, Rosfinmonitoring – as we said, we are going to determine the position by 2018”. In other words, the decision does not necessarily have to be positive.
This issue has been discussed by legislators and financiers of Russia for several years. So, in the fall of 2015, the Ministry of Finance of Russia proposed criminalizing the release and turnover of the Crypto-currency. Then the department considered that the maximum punishment for these acts should be at least 4 years of imprisonment. Six months later, the Ministry of Finance began talking about 7 years in prison. The Bank of Russia initially advocated the ban on the use of digital currencies, believing that they are close to banned money surrogates in Russia.
Over time, regulators began to change their view of things. The same Ministry of Finance, a few months after the threat of doing work with the bitcoins, was responsible for the fact that the level of threat of digital currencies does not correspond to the alleged punishment. Moiseev then stated the following: “The Finance Ministry decided to wait a little. See how the situation will develop internationally. And already taking this into account, take a decision. ”
Already in February of this year, the deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Olga Skorobogatova, allowed the granting of the national currency status to the crypto currency:” When the emission is controlled, when the players understand who is behind this, when the risks are weighed, and When clients and citizens absolutely clearly understand that this is guaranteed by the state. ” But the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring does not share the enthusiasm of its colleagues. According to this agency, anonymous transactions can cause the growth of the shadow economy.
At the same time, Russian financial organizations are actively studying crypto-currencies. Banks are interested in new technologies. “We are always open to innovation and are ready to offer our clients new financial instruments in strict accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation,” Sberbank said. The head of this organization, Herman Gref, once said that he himself works with the bitcoins: “Of course, everything delivers great pleasure and is pleasant as a game, but this will soon be our whole life.”
Came to a common opinion on the status of the crypto currency, the banks will not be able to start active work with them. So it will have to wait until 2018 – perhaps by this time the situation will clear up.
