Russia will be legalizing crypto payments “sooner or later,” says Denis Manturov, the country’s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Manturov encountered a question about authorized crypto payments at the New Horizon educational forum this week. This is according to a translation of a Thursday story from the local media site TASS.
Crypto payments in Russia recommended by Finance officials
Throughout 2022, the government of the country will investigate various crypto adoption strategies. Although, there is still no finalized definitive policy on digital asset payments. However, Russia’s Finance Ministry supported its legality in its April bill “On Digital Currency.”
“The question is when this will happen, how it will happen, and how it will be regulated,” Manturov said in the Tass.ru report. “Now both the Central Bank and the government [are] actively engaged in this. But everyone is inclined to understand that this is a trend of the time, and sooner or later, in one format or another, it will be carried out.”
Opposing views
Until recently, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the Ministry of Finance held opposed views on cryptocurrency regulation. The central bank sought an absolute prohibition and the ministry sought taxes control.
The CBR advocated a blanket ban on local crypto trade and mining as recently as January. This was because of potential “financial stability risks” related to the sector.
However, given the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, CBR admitted last month to taking an overly confrontational attitude toward cryptocurrency. This may have hampered the sector’s growth.
In March, Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Evgeny Grabchak advocated addressing the legal vacuum surrounding cryptocurrency mining in the country. This is by enacting specific restrictions.
Meanwhile, Grabchak spoke at the first national meeting of legal crypto miners in Irkutsk. He asked for the sector to be under regulation as soon as possible.