Russia mulls ban on cryptocurrency use and mining
Categories: Crypto News
Russian central bank has proposed a ban on cryptocurrency use and mining on Russian territory. The bank has cited threats posed by cryptocurrency to financial stability, citizens' wellbeing and its monetary policy sovereignty. Russia has for years, argued against cryptocurrencies claiming that they could be used to fund terrorism or for money laundering. Russia eventually gave cryptocurrencies legal status in 2020 but banned their use as means of payment. The bank proposed preventing financial institutions from carrying out any operations with cryptocurrencies and said mechanisms should be developed to block transactions aimed at buying or selling cryptocurrencies for fiat, or traditional currencies. The proposed ban includes crypto exchanges.Russians are active cryptocurrency users, the central bank said, with an annual transaction volume of about $5 billion. Governments across the world are cracking down on cryptocurrencies due to worry that privately operated highly volatile digital currencies could undermine their control of financial and monetary systems.