Central Bank of Russia Now Making Concessions About Crypto

The Central Bank of Russia is gradually warming up to digital currencies and is notably making concessions to allow Russians to trade cryptocurrencies.

Prominent media platforms have confirmed that the Governor of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, is ready to permit crypto transactions in the country, as long as it will not seep into the local financial system.

“Our position is that cryptocurrency should not be used as a means of payment within the country. […] As for the use [of crypto] in international settlements, if it does not enter into the Russian financial system, then it is possible,” Nabiullina said at an economic forum held in St Petersburg as reported by Kommersant.

Per the positions maintained, Nabiullina said cryptocurrencies can be used for international transactions or payments, but their use domestically will still not be backed by the apex bank.

The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance have been on the opposite side of the balance for quite some time, however, the latter is now hopeful that now that concessions are now being made, a time could come when crypto will be fully absorbed into the Russian system.

“We believe that the industry certainly needs to be regulated. We hope that we will indeed reach an agreement on all the remaining points [where we are currently at odds with] the Central Bank. At the beginning of the year, we did not have common ground at all. Now we have found common ground: mining and settlements for overseas economic activity,” said Ivan Chebeskov, the financial policy department head of the Ministry of Finance said at the same event.

Growing Embrace for Crypto Mining

While the Central Bank and the Finance Ministry are notably working out concessions to permit crypto transactions in one way or the other, it is noteworthy that the status of Bitcoin mining in the country is also growing positive.

A recent partnership was inked by Gazprom Neft, and BitRiver, a Russian crypto mining firm in which the energy giant will supply as much as 2 GW of electricity for mining digital currencies in the next couple of years. 

“In the next two years, BitRiver will […] create its own data centers for energy-intensive computing with an increase in capacity up to 2GW, including using associated petroleum gas, which will […] ensure high and stable power supply,” said Igor Runets, the Founder and CEO of BitRiver.

The Central Bank boss is also permitted to let this partnership work, provided proceeds from the mining would not be used in the local economy.