Russian authorities should not stimulate the spread of cryptocurrencies in the country. This, reports TASS, citing the chair of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina.
According to her, the regulator continues to oppose using Bitcoin as a means of payment for transactions within the country.
«We regard cryptocurrencies as private currencies that aspire to the role of money very negatively. These cryptocurrencies are anonymous, no one is responsible for them, and, in our view, a responsible state should not stimulate their spread and crowd them out of payments», Nabiullina stressed.
The central bank, overall, sees no harm in digital currencies, except when they are used for dubious transactions.
Nabiullina added that citizens need an alternative, and the Bank of Russia is currently developing a range of digital projects.
«I have already spoken about the digital ruble — in our view, this should be developed», she stressed.
The Russian central bank remains skeptical about citizens’ investments in cryptocurrencies and insists that the ruble is the only legal means of payment in the Russian Federation.
In September, First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, Sergei Shvetsov, announced the creation of a mechanism to block payments to Bitcoin exchanges and exchangers to combat “emotional purchases of cryptocurrencies.”
At the same time, the regulator is betting on a national digital currency, which is at the development stage. Testing of the digital ruble will take place on the basis of 12 banks in the first quarter of 2022.
Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, rates and analytics.