Cryptoruble soon could be the official means of payment in Russia.
Russia is one such country which has remained so far whimsical about its stand on cryptocurrencies. In the past, there have been contrary statements issued by Russia’s government, its finance ministry and its banks, relating to cryptocurrencies. This has created a lot of confusion in the local investors as they are quite uncertain as to where its government will lean.
Russian President Vladimir Putin last year asked for creating its own state-owned cryptocurrency aka the ‘Cryptoruble’ in a step that could help Russia bypass any sanctions if imposed by the U.S. The government now seems to be giving a further push to its plans with Cryptoruble.
As reported by RT, a draft law has been submitted by the Parliament member Rizvan Kurbanov to the State Duma to introduce “the national cryptocurrency, cryptoruble, as an official means of payment in Russia.” The document further reads as “The amendments proposed by the draft law … codify the digital financial asset as a legal means of payment on the territory of Russia.”
The submitted bill was available in the electronic database of the lower house of parliament a few days back. The bill says that according to Article 140 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, cryptoruble should be included in the list of means of legal payments in Russia.
The document reads: “The cryptoruble is a digital financial asset (cryptocurrency) – an analog of the ruble, which has circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation.” It further adds that Cryptoruble “is protected by cryptographic methods and used by participants in the distributed registry of digital transactions.”
Kurbanov also wrote that “Adoption of the submitted draft federal law will not entail additional costs from the federal budget and does not require changes in other financial obligations of the state.”
Russia’s finance ministry and central bank have previously denounced the idea of having a state-owned cryptocurrency, earlier. Olga Skorobogatova, the first deputy governor of Russia’s central bank said that cryptoruble is not advisable from the macroeconomic point of view. However, she later revealed that the bank is although working on a “supranational digital currency within the BRICS or the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC).” On the other hand, the deputy finance minister of Russia earlier said that “I do not even understand what a cryptoruble is.”
It remains to be seen that whether the bill is being accepted and includes ‘Cryptoruble’ as a legal payment method in the country