Russian cbank says tougher stance on cryptocurrency harmful

MOSCOW, Dec 20 (PRIME) -- Excessive efforts to regulate the cryptocurrency market will deprive Russia of a chance to control such operations, and deals will be concluded outside the country, Vadim Kalukhov, director of the central bank’s financial technologies department, warned on Tuesday.

“Regardless of what regulation we’ll introduce and how we’ll name it, the process of replacement of fiducial money with cryptocurrencies is taking place,” Kalukhov said at a meeting in the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house.

“We should face it. It’s done as a purchase via a card through the Federal Financial Monitoring Service or a banking system. It does not differ from a purchase of stockings, socks, or whatsoever.”

The regulation of cryptocurrency operations and a strengthened qualified signature and other control measures would hardly attract the people whom the country’s financial authorities want to monitor, the official said.

Russia has banned issues of money surrogates, but liability for violations is not stipulated. The Finance Ministry is crafting a bill to introduce punishment for bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.

Kalukhov said the world’s volume of cryptocurrencies does not exceed U.S. $15 billion. “Within the framework of global financial stability, I’d say frankly that these figures are tiny and could hardly undermine stability,” he said.

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