Russian Crypto Ban Proposal Denounced by the Country’s Big Names

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News

  • Following Russian Central Bank’s recent proposed crypto ban, many are speaking.
  • Some feel the ban will pose a risk to several sectors of the high-tech economy.
  • Volkov wrote that the ban would be like “calling a spade a spade”.

Russia’s recent crypto ban has received a lot of criticism from several big names, including Alexei Navalny’s Chief of Staff Leonid Volkov and Telegram founder Pavel Durov. This comes as a result of Russia’s Central Bank publishing a report proposing a blanket ban on domestic minor crypto trading and mining on January 20.

In detail, the report indicates that the risks of crypto are “much higher for emerging markets, including Russia”. However, it occurs that this suggested ban isn’t universally accepted in the former Soviet Union.

In fact, the Telegram CEO stated that the proposed ban on crypto would “destroy a number of sectors of the high-tech economy. Durov added:

Such a ban will inevitably slow down the development of blockchain technologies in general. These technologies improve the efficiency and safety of many human activities, from finance to the arts.

While Durov revealed that the “desire to regulate the circulation of cryptocurrencies is natural on the part of any financial authority,” he concluded that “such a ban is unlikely to stop unethical players, but it will put an end to legal Russian projects in this area.”

Meanwhile, in his January 20 telegram post, the Chief of Staff wrote that the ban would be like: “calling a spade a spade.”  In his announcement, Volkov referenced a report done by Bloomberg. It claimed that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) was instrumental in extending the ban because crypto can be used to finance “non-systemic opposition and extremist organizations.”