Central Bank of Russia Plans to Support Ban on Cryptocurrency Payments

Since their inception, cryptocurrencies have borne their share of critical ups and downs in the global economy. Where the digital currency arena is witnessing an inclination from the biggies of the industrial domain, there has been a sense of growing resistance from the regulatory authorities. The recent times have shown a never-seen-before lookout of the global legislature watchdogs towards the cryptocurrencies. The recent example being social media giant Facebook’s highly controversial project, Libra stablecoin, which has unanimously attracted a lot of negative publicity from around the world.

While giving a major blowout to the industry, the Central Bank of Russia shared its skeptical views concerning the virtual currencies by affirming that it might put a shut-stop on crypto payments in case of the release of a legislation decision concerning the same. The banking regulator stated its views via a comment given to RIA Novosti.

The single legal payment means in Russia is the Ruble. We believe that cryptocurrencies carry significant risks, including risks related to money laundering and terrorism financing,

told the bank’s press office.

Up until now, the Russian economy does not have a proper picture regarding the legal status of smart contracts, initial coin offerings or ICOs, and digital currency trading and mining processes. Earlier in the month of April this year, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center presented the results of a survey conducted on 1,600 people belonging to the 18+ age group. The survey was regarding cryptocurrencies, and it highlighted the fact that the hype around digital currencies has begun to face a downfall in Russia.

Nearly 56% of the participants stated that they have only some knowledge about Bitcoin, 9% of them claimed that they have detailed knowledge on the subject, while 18% said that they have merely heard the term Bitcoin. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have failed to grab the attention of the Russian population as 65% of people who participated in the survey and claimed that they have heard about Bitcoin affirmed that investments made in Bitcoin are not profitable. This also reflected in the tiny figure of 2% of people who actually ever bought Bitcoin.