Governments across the world are struggling to finalize their stands on cryptocurrencies. Russia is no exception. Russia’s finance minister believes that regulating the crypto space is the more progressive approach to crypto. Having regulations in place will help governments watch and regulate crypto dealings. The government would then also be able to tax the gains made on the crypto exchanges and in crypto mining and increase government budgets.
He said that banning BTC is not a solution. He added that banning BTC is the same as banning internet itself. This he said was impossible. He was speaking in response to calls by the central bank of Russia to ban crypto.
Central Bank’s Stand
The central bank has been arguing for a ban. Their stand is based on their assessment that crypto places investors at risk because of the very opaque nature of the sector. Crypto, the central bank feared has the potential to infect the rest of the financial services firms and banks.
The finance minister acknowledged that these concerns did exist. He however felt that banning was not the solution. He said that robust regulations could mitigate these risks, by for example, disallowing non-professional investors from investing in the market. There could also be caps placed on the maximum amount that non-professional investors could invest. Currently, the cap stands at between 50,000 – 100,000 rubles.
However, the cap does not specify if this is a cap on monthly investments or a longer duration. The central bank is not convinced. It continues to maintain that non-professional investors should be kept out of the space. The risk of fraud is high as also are AML considerations. The government and the central bank are discussing on the way ahead on crypto. It is expected that consensus will be arrived at soon.
