Putin says that a surplus of electricity and well-trained personnel offers Russia a “competitive advantage” in crypto mining.
Russian president Vladmir Putin has given crypto enthusiasts a glimmer of hope for the long run of digital assets within the country, that are under threat from a recent push to ban cryptocurrencies and mining.
The strongman leader opened a January 26 video conference with members of the Russian government by saying he would love to “start with a difficulty that's presently within the spotlight — the regulation of cryptocurrencies.”
“Of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining. I mean the surplus of electricity and the well-trained personnel available in the country.”
According to analysts in spring 2021, the worth of electricity in Russia was $0.06 per kilowatt-hour for house use and $0.08 for business. To compare, in France, a kWh of electricity prices $0.2 for house owners and $0.14 for business, that is fourfold dearer than in Russia.
He conjointly referred to as on the country’s central bank to meet with his government within the close to future so they could return to a accord on the employment of crypto.
Last Thursday, Russia’s central bank printed a report proposing a blanket ban on domestic crypto commerce and mining. The report declared that the risks of crypto are “much higher for rising markets, including Russia.”
Russia’s central bank has control issues relating to crypto for a few time currently. In Dec 2021, central bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina said: "We cannot welcome investments into cryptocurrencies"
Yesterday, Russian minister Ivan Chebeskov responded with opposition to the planned blanket ban, career for regulation instead of restriction. He highlighted that a ban on crypto would cause the country to fall behind the worldwide tech trade.
“We need to give these technologies the opportunity to develop.”
Meanwhile, Putin assured his parliamentarians that “the central bank doesn't change our manner of technical progress and is creating the mandatory efforts to introduce the newest technologies during this space of activity.”
Despite these assurances, Vladimir Putin conceded that increasing the employment of crypto “carries sure risks,” given its “high volatility.”
(Keira Wright, Cointelegraph, 2022)