Russian Ministry of Finance Denounces Direct Ban of Bitcoin

According to the statement by Alexei Moiseyev, Russia’s deputy minister of finance, the ministry denounces any direct ban of bitcoin.He noted that the law on cryptocurrency will be amended after a series of meeting with experts.

“The law is most definitely ready, but we won’t be hasting it, and it will most likely change as the discussion goes on. Now I’m going to have a series of meetings with experts and think twice about what to do. I’d say that considering the development of technology, a direct ban won’t be a really right move,” Moiseyev told TASS.

Talking to the press, Moiseyev, similar to some of his colleagues, has once again cited so-called “facts” regarding bitcoin’s involvement in terrorism financing, even though such facts have no serious or generally recognized proofs.

“We must restrain scammers as much as possible to use bitcoins in operations related to illegal transactions and money laundering. We see it even in some European official sources that nearly 80 per cent of all suspicious transactions related to such things, like racket, laundering and so on, they go through bitcoins. Certainly, we can’t forget about funding terrorism, which immediately stems from that,” Moiseyev stated.

The deputy minister also believes the bill will have to protect the Central Bank as the exclusive issuer of money.

“We have to maintain the Central Bank’s position as the only issuance center. Generally, everything else (not subject to banning) is welcome, do as you will. But how do we write that in a law? For now I’m not sure if what we wrote is what I wanted to. We’ll be thinking, and actively communicate with experts,” he added.

Earlier this summer Russia’s ministry of finance has stated that it intends to allow citizens to buy cryptocurrency for the purpose of reselling, exchanging, and using beyond Russia. At the same time, the same proposal suggested mining would be considered issuance of currency, and therefore banned.