Key Takeaways:
- Tatarstan Minister, Khayrullin supports the crypto ban in Russia.
- A public test zone will be set up for experimentation.
- Putin wants the government and the regulator to come to an agreement.
Ayrat Khayrullin, Tatarstan Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, has offered a public test zone for cryptocurrencies in Kazan. He is rooting for the Central Bank’s offer to impose a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies and their mining in Russia. The Tatarstan Minister finds the ban “fair” and has mentioned the involvement of 200 million people in this and an annual amount of $5 billion.
On February 4, the Central Bank of Russia issued a consultation paper citing that there has been an increase in the number of advertisements related to the sale of coin minting equipment, whereas the demand is low. Therefore, the regulator seeks a drop in mining equipment and a complete ban on operations related to cryptocurrencies.
Khayrullin has agreed with the Central Bank, Federal Security Service, and government regarding setting a pilot zone abiding by the laws on Experimental Legal Regimes and Digital Financial Assets. He is expecting that this step will help see “how those elements of infrastructure work under the state and regulator’s control.” In this regard, he cited the example of Innopolis’s experience when a test project of a crewless taxi was launched for experimentation.
Initially, the Central Bank considered it essential to develop mechanisms to block transactions done for crypto trading as the regulator is worried that the ruble will lose its significance amongst the digital currencies. However, Ivan Chebeskov shared that regulating the market will be more beneficial than imposing a ban. Therefore, the Russian Finance Ministry introduced a concept to regulate the crypto market.
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, thinks that a ban on crypto in Russia will lead to the outflow of IT specialists, which may damage sectors in high-tech companies. However, Russian Presiden. Vladimir Putin asks the government and the Central Bank to make a settlement. He says, “The Central Bank isn’t an obstacle on our road to technological progress, and itself takes necessary efforts to introduce the latest technologies in this sphere. As for cryptocurrencies, the Central Bank has its own opinion. Experts of the Central Bank say that the expansion of this activity carries certain risks, first of all, for citizens of the country.”
