It seems that Russia may soon opt for a ban on Bitcoin, both in terms of owning BTC and trading it.
A few weeks ago, India finally decided to remove the crypto ban in the country, considering it unconstitutional, but now Russia seems to want to do the opposite.
In fact, the matter has been talked about since time immemorial, with Putin saying in June 2019, for example, that he was sceptical about the regulation of these assets.
Even in September, the banks in the country were against the anonymity of some cryptocurrencies.
Now, however, it seems that this is becoming more tangible, considering that Alexey Guznov, a lawyer at the Bank of Russia, a few weeks ago declared that operating with cryptocurrencies brings too many risks.
“We believe there are big risks of legalizing the operations with the cryptocurrencies, from the standpoint of financial stability, money laundering prevention and consumer protection. We are opposed to the fact that there are institutions that organize the release of cryptocurrency and facilitate its circulation.”
“[The upcoming bill] directly formulates a ban on the issue, as well as on the organization of circulation of cryptocurrency, and introduces liability for violation of this ban.”
At the same time, Guznov also admitted that it would be impossible in Russia – as in any other country – to completely ban bitcoin, just like other cryptocurrencies.
Meanwhile, searches for the keyword “Bitcoin” in Russia over the last 30 days seem to be growing, although not sharply, whereas on Localbitcoins volumes have remained roughly constant since the end of 2019.
What is certain is that this regulatory uncertainty is not favouring the crypto sector in the country.
