on the crypto
La Russia is one of the countries where institutions from the outset have shown considerable openness to the phenomenon of cryptocurrency. Also the recent 24 April is explicitly stated, when Putin he stated that in the case of a failure of the digitization of the economy, his country could suffer significant difficulties in the future.
The news coming from Moscow, therefore, is viewed with great interest by environments favorable to digital assets, which they see precisely in Russia the giant that could assume a decisive function to make the prospects of virtual currencies increasingly strong and secure.
The Russian government towards a tightening of mining?
After the repeated declarations of the Russian government and of prominent personalities of the monetary and financial institutions of Moscow, few were expecting the news that in the last hours has sowed not a few doubts about the effective will of Russia. There State Duma, or the parliament of the Russian Federation, is seriously considering the idea of impose administrative responsibilities to the detriment of who it is implicated in cryptocurrency mining.
It was stated during an interview with the TASS information portal Anatoly Aksakov, number one of the Duma Committee for Financial Markets, which stated that the government could decisively change its mining policies already by the end of June. In particular, any operation involving the creation and dissemination of cryptocurrencies that do not fully comply with Russian legislation will be considered illegitimate, leading the promoters to have to pay for their administrative responsibilities in the form of fines. The Duma wants with this act to affirm that the cryptocurrencies created on blockchain open, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, to be considered as illegitimate tools. Aksakov himself then specified that in any case Russian citizens who intend to make use of these virtual currencies they will be able to continue sourcing at foreign sales points and exchanges, which would not be subject to national jurisdiction.
Sberbank's decision
The declaration of Aksakov falls at a particular moment, if only it is thought that in May the most important bank in the country, Sberbank, had declared its intention to discontinue all projects related to the cryptocurrency sector.
A decision that raised considerable fanfare and was motivated by the fact that the Bank of Russia had made known its open opposition to digital assets. Waiting for clear rules for the sector and for those willing to invest in it, Sberbank has identified an insurmountable obstacle in this sense in the open opposition of the Bank of Russia by overturning every project in the direction of a digitalization of financial services.
A surprising decision
However, the intention of the Duma sounds like one remarkable surprise, considering how Russia has shown considerable interest in cryptocurrencies over the past few years, seen as the best way to mitigate the consequences of the economic blockade by the United States and the European Union.
An interest that was reiterated even in the days before the meeting with the Japan in which the absence of a formal peace treaty able to close the sad chapter of the Second World War was discussed. The new treaty the two countries are currently discussing involves the sharing by Japan of practical knowledge and technical equipment in the field of trade and turnover of cryptocurrencies.
It should then be remembered as Russia is about to test the wide spectrum of applications of virtual currencies within regulatory sandboxes which should arise in four pilot regions of its immense territory, as foreseen in the plans drawn up in this regard by the Ministry of Economic Development.
Among their objectives there is also the one aimed at developing effective, stable and economic crypto channels through which it would be possible to circumvent the sanctions imposed by the United States against sectors, companies and personalities of the Russian economy.
The Jugra tourist platform
Another piece of information to keep in mind to try to understand in what direction Russia is going, as far as digital assets are concerned, it is then that relative to the decision taken by the Chanty-Mansi Autonomous District (Jugra), which provides for the launch of a tourism platform based on Blockchain technology.
Also in this case it was the information portal Tass that revealed the drawings of the Russian region, carried out by Roman Genkel, the man entrusted with the task of managing the regional development fund. Indeed he has indeed tightened one collaboration with Alexander Borodich, the CEO of the start-up blockchain Universa, for the launch of the new platform, during the conference St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The platform, as explained by Universa in a tweet, will allow us to track all public expenses and investments, with the precise aim of ensuring maximum transparency. Structured to support various languages, it will serve to simplify the interaction between tourists visiting the region and the entire tourist ecosystem available.
