Elvira Nabiullina, Russia's central bank governor, comes out against crypto-currency use in Russia. A lot can happen in month. Russian institutions went from preparing the Moscow Stock Exchange for the legal trading in crypto-currencies like bitcoin and ether, the two most popular ones used in Russia, to coming a hair away from following in China's footsteps and banning initial coin offerings (ICO), a crypto-currency funding mechanisms for new tech companies.
"The use of crypto-currency as a surrogate for the ruble in trading in goods and services, in our opinion, has a risk of undermining the circulation of money," central banker Elvira Nabiullina told Russian newswire Tass on Friday. "We will not allow the use of crypto-currency as a surrogate money," she said without mentioning ICOs in particular. One can only speculate that those crowdfunding platforms are on her radar.
Nabiullina is arguably one of the most powerful women in Russia. She has Vladimir Putin's ear on all things economic and financial. Putin defers to her on such matters.
This summer, Putin met with Ethereum developer and CEO Vitalik Buterin to discuss developments in so-called blockchain technologies, the tech platforms that provide the backbone to digital money. Buterin later told a local newspaper in Tatarstan that he felt Putin was opening to these new technologies as a matter of Russian national tech strategy. "Many people at different levels of the Russian government are open to crypto-currencies. I think my meeting with Putin helped him see things clearer," Buterin was quoted as saying in Tatarstan's online daily Realnoe Vremya.
This is the second time this week that the Russian Central Bank has come out against crypto-currencies.
"Crypto-currencies are issued by an unlimited circle of anonymous entities. Due to the anonymous nature of the issuance of crypto-currency, citizens and legal entities can be involved in illegal activities, including legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and financing of terrorism," the Russian central bank said in a statement issued on September 4. "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, into circulation and used at organized trades such as clearing and settlement infrastructure within the territory of the Russian Federation."
Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2017/09/08/russia-faces-internal-battle-over-bitcoin/#53e97d76207e
