Central Bank of Russia Proposes Crypto Ban, Telegram Founder and Opposition Voice Concerns

Just last week, the Central Bank of Russia published a report titled “Cryptocurrencies: Trends, risks, measures” under which a blanket ban on domestic crypto trading and mining was proposed. “Potential financial stability risks associated with cryptocurrencies are much higher for emerging markets, including Russia,” stated the report.

Since then, tech and even political executives have voiced their concerns regarding the move among whom are Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, and Leonid Volkov, the chief of staff of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Durov noted that the suggested ban would “destroy a number of sectors of the high-tech economy.”

“Such a ban will inevitably slow down the development of blockchain technologies in general. These technologies improve the efficiency and safety of many human activities, from finance to the arts,” he elaborated further. While Durov notes that the “desire to regulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies is natural on the part of any financial authority,” he added that “such a ban is unlikely to stop unscrupulous players, but it will put an end to legal Russian projects in this area.”

Within the report, the Central Bank of Russia seemingly likened cryptocurrencies to a Ponzi scheme which was also part of the reason why it proposed the ban. Volkov, on the other hand, believes banning cryptocurrency is “impossible.” “Technically, banning cryptocurrency is the same as banning person-to-person transfers (i.e. it’s impossible)… Yes, they can make it very difficult to deposit funds on crypto exchanges, which means that intermediary services will simply appear that will do this through foreign jurisdictions. Yes, transaction costs will rise. Well, that’s all, I guess.”

Russia’s neighboring countries such as Georgia, Kosovo, and Kazakhstan have likewise taken assertive stances against crypto. Most of these countries have since banned crypto mining. Ukraine, however, remains an exception as it passed several laws in September 2021 to promote crypto adoption in the country.

Source: CoinTelegraph