After recent announcements from China’s regulatory body, Russia’s central bank has issued a statement on the risks of cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).
According to a notice that was published yesterday, The Bank of Russia has responded to the rising discussion of both ICOs and cryptocurrencies themselves. The notice states that exchanging cryptocurrencies involved “high risks” and that ICOs were “a form of attracting citizens’ investments”
Following on from this, The Bank of Russia stated that they won’t be green lighting any cryptocurrency trading on any official exchanges, nor would it approve the use of the block chain tech for other institutional infrastructure.
Fortunately for fans and users of cryptocurrencies, the Bank of Russia doesn’t serve as a financial regulator in Russia, but was simply a statement of weighted opinion.
We find it quite poetic that the centralised Russian bank made it clear that it didn’t quite support a decentralised currency solution. Luckily, the official financial regulator in Russia, the State Duma is yet to comment negatively toward cryptocurrencies.
purposes. At the same time, the Bank of Russia doesn’t serve as a financial regulator in Russia; that role falls to the State Duma and the Ministry of Finance.
The Bank of Russia’s (translated) statement can be found below:
“Given the high risks of circulation and use of crypto-currency, the Bank of Russia considers it premature to admit crypto-currencies, as well as any financial instruments nominated or associated with crypto-currencies, to circulation and use at organized trades and in clearing and settlement infrastructure on the territory of the Russian Federation for servicing transactions with crypto-currencies and derivative financial instruments on them.”