A top Russian central bank official said at a press conference that the monetary authority will permit foreign trade with crypto.
First deputy governor of the Russian central bank Ksenia Yudayeva stated Tuesday that the bank is open to using cryptocurrency for international payments, Reuters reported, along with Russian media, which added that the bank was reconsidering its position on crypto mining as well. Yudaeva was quoted as saying:
“We have changed our position on mining, and also permit the use of cryptocurrency in foreign trade and outside the country,”
The bank official’s statement, sandwiched into announcements about domestic bank regulation, seems to be a concession to the legislators preparing a new version of the law “On Digital Currency.” Business newspaper Vedomosti reports that the Finance Ministry unveiled the draft of the law at a discussion hosted by the United Russia Party on Frida.
At that discussion, Anton Gorelkin, a member of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, mentioned the need for the central bank to weigh in. The input of numerous state agencies and ministries has already been considered in the draft.
The provision to allow international trade in cryptocurrency is an innovation in the law. Adding it into the existing law was a matter of expediency, Economic Development Ministry official Anatoly Dyubanov said at the United Russia event, Vedomosti reports.
( Derek Andersen, Cointelegraph, 2022 )