Interest in cryptocurrencies has been growing in Russia, not
least among non-qualified investors. According to recently quoted
estimates, Russians have already put more than $67 billion into the
crypto market, the capitalization of which has increased significantly
this year.
Russians Spent Some 5 Trillion Rubles on Crypto
Russian residents have swapped 5 trillion of their national fiat
(over $67.5 billion) with cryptocurrencies, a high-ranking member of the
State Duma has revealed without indicating a time frame. Speaking
during hearings at the lower house of the Russian parliament on Monday,
head of the Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov stated:
According to some reports, 5 trillion rubles have already been invested by Russians in cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin and the like are yet to be comprehensively regulated in
Russia, where the law “On Digital Financial Assets,” which entered into
force earlier this year, introduced some rules for only a few related
activities — coin issuance, for example — but key areas such as mining
and taxation remain outside the scope of Russian legislation.
Aksakov remarked that the crypto market has attracted interest from
investors, including ordinary Russians. Quoted by the Tass news agency,
he further emphasized that the time has come for authorities in Moscow
to decide what to do in that regard. He elaborated:
It is necessary to determine how we treat this phenomenon
and, accordingly, prescribe liabilities in the law, should we prohibit
or restrict something.
Media reports have indicated
that Russian government institutions have different views on how to
proceed with cryptocurrency regulation. Various approaches are currently
being discussed and weighed, ranging from imposing a blanket ban to
legalizing crypto investment and trade, Aksakov announced last week,
quoted by Interfax.
Citing sources close to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), Reuters
revealed that the monetary authority is considering the prohibition of
crypto purchases while its current position is one of “complete
rejection.” At a press conference, Governor Elvira Nabiullina reiterated
the regulator’s skeptical attitude towards cryptocurrencies and insisted that Russia’s financial infrastructure should not be used to facilitate crypto transactions.
Other officials have also expressed their opinions on the matter. In October, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev stated
that the Russian Federation is not going to follow in the footsteps of
China and ban its citizens from acquiring cryptocurrency on foreign
exchanges or keeping it in overseas-based crypto wallets.
Estimates quoted
by the Bank of Russia in its recently published Financial Stability
Overview for Q2 and Q3 of 2021 showed that the annual volume of digital
currency transactions made by Russians amounts to around $5 billion. In
its analysis, the monetary authority warned that cryptocurrency
operations carry risks for the country’s financial stability and
investors.
source link : https://news.bitcoin.com/russians-have-invested-over-67-billion-in-cryptocurrency-lawmaker-reveals/
