VTB chief Andrey Kostin likens Bitcoin mining to counterfeiting

Andrey Kostin, the chairman of the board of VTB Bank, during an online discussion with Private Banking clients expressed the view that the future of Bitcoin is doomed, despite the rapid rise in the price of the cryptocurrency. Forbes reports this.

“I have always believed that such ‘dodgy’ digital currencies, like Bitcoin, despite its price surge, are doomed in the long run. No state financial system can allow a currency to exist and not be regulated by government authorities if the currency occupies a substantial place in foreign-exchange and budgetary operations,” the banker said.

He added that no country can calmly watch money being mined.

“This is like counterfeiting, it has always seemed to me,” Kostin stressed.

However the head of VTB is convinced that “digital currency is an inevitable development, because the world is becoming digital.” He expressed confidence that the future lies with state-issued central bank digital currencies. In this context he cited China.

“The Chinese have advanced very far in this matter — the creation of the digital yuan, and other countries as well. Russia is no exception. The central bank has announced such a concept; we supported it, but on certain conditions,” Kostin noted.

Earlier Kostin did not rule out the departure of private investors from the traditional market into Bitcoin.

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