Note that talk of a possible ban on cryptocurrency interaction in Russia resumed last week. That's when Reuters sources reported that the authorities were ready to create serious problems for cryptocurrency investors, in addition, representatives of the Central Bank of Russia described the situation with the coin market as a "shadow financial system". Read more about the sources' reports in a separate piece.


That said, it is indeed realistic to provide problems for coin holders in general. A case in point here is China, whose government in September once again banned citizens from interacting with digital assets. Under the decree, cryptocurrency exchanges must stop serving the country’s residents by the end of the year.

What will happen to cryptocurrencies in Russia?

Here is Nabiullina’s quote, in which she shared her attitude to the current situation. The replica was published by Cointelegraph.

You know that we are skeptical about cryptocurrencies, to put it mildly. There is significant risk for retail investors and significant volatility with this asset type. In addition, cryptocurrencies are not transparent as they are often used for illegal transactions. Therefore, we cannot welcome investments in them. We seek to prevent the Russian financial infrastructure from using cryptocurrency transactions. This is entirely doable.


It is a mistake to call cryptocurrencies opaque. But they are based on blockchains, and anyone can study what is going on in them. In particular, we have already written about how to track transactions on the Bitcoin network. We recommend reading it to better understand what is going on in the niche.

On top of that, former CIA chief Michael Morell said that crypto is not suitable for use by criminals. And the reason for that is precisely because of transparent blockchains, in which all transfers of each user are recorded. It is therefore easy to argue with Nabiullina's quote.


Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina

So why is crypto considered such a hostile phenomenon for the Russian financial system? The fact is that the scale of corruption in the former Soviet Union countries often exceeds that in the US and Europe, according to foreign experts. Therefore, the adoption of cryptocurrencies as a legal means of payment may further “untie the hands” of criminals engaged in money laundering.

Central Bank of Russia

Nevertheless, Russia is one of the first regions to invest in digital assets. If the Central Bank does decide to ban crypto, thousands of investors who have invested their money in Bitcoin and altcoins will be left “out of innovation”. Will their rights be protected by the country’s main financial authority? It is difficult to answer this question in the current environment, as the state authorities are quite hostile towards digital assets.


We believe that such a prospect does not seem positive. However, cryptocurrencies are now becoming popular around the world because they can really change the financial world for the better. We can also think of Congress, where there was a hearing with participants in the digital asset industry, and congressmen themselves are actively investing in crypto. With that in mind, it is unlikely that any bans will be seen as progressive by the global community.


Stay tuned to our millionaires’ crypto chat room to see how the situation develops. There we will talk about other topics related to the world of digital assets and blockchain.