{"id":57057,"date":"2022-02-02T18:21:06","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T16:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=57057"},"modified":"2025-09-04T09:35:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:35:18","slug":"gref-backs-ban-on-cryptocurrency-payments-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/gref-backs-ban-on-cryptocurrency-payments-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Gref backs ban on cryptocurrency payments in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of Sberbank, Herman Gref, backed a ban on cryptocurrencies as a means of payment on Russian territory, but added that stablecoins and derivatives of such assets should not be prohibited. This was reported by \u00ab\u042d\u0445\u043e \u041c\u043e\u0441\u043a\u0432\u044b\u00bb<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said there is no point in restricting ownership of cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMoreover, under no circumstances should any derivatives be banned, such things as stablecoins. We have a law on digital assets, which generally allows this; it is necessary to develop this in every possible way,\u201d said the head of Sberbank.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gref also noted<\/a> that cryptocurrencies are part of blockchain technology and regulation should be approached cautiously:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe most important thing here is ‘not to throw the baby out with the bathwater’. Today we live in a global market, and if we over-regulate something, the competence will immediately move away from us to other jurisdictions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In 2018, Gref said that a state-level ban on cryptocurrencies threatens blockchain development and hampers unlocking the full potential of digital currencies.<\/p>\n

Later, he described Bitcoin as a ‘technical instrument for transactional activity’, not an investment asset.<\/p>\n

In 2021, cryptocurrencies are the riskiest instrument for investments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier in January last year, the bank submitted an application to the Bank of Russia<\/a> for registration of a blockchain platform with the subsequent issuance of the Sbercoin stablecoin pegged to the ruble.<\/p>\n

At the end of 2021, the Sberbank-owned company \u00ab\u0421\u0431\u0435\u0440 \u0423\u043f\u0440\u0430\u0432\u043b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0410\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0432\u0430\u043c\u0438\u00bb launched an exchange-traded fund<\/a> focused on the shares of companies, whose main activity is related to distributed ledger technology.<\/p>\n

The Bank of Russia in July last year urged exchanges not to list instruments tied to cryptocurrencies<\/a>. In December, the central bank spoke out against investments by mutual funds in such assets<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In January, the regulator proposed<\/a> to completely ban the issuing, circulation and exchange of cryptocurrencies on the territory of Russia. At the same time, the Bank of Russia stressed that this does not amount to a ban on owning digital currencies.<\/p>\n

Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram<\/a> \u2014 cryptocurrency news, rates and analytics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Herman Gref, head of Sberbank, backed a ban on cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in Russia, but added that stablecoins and derivatives of such assets should not be banned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1451,416,1138],"class_list":["post-57057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitcoin-regulation-in-russia","tag-german-gref","tag-opinions"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"12","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57059,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57057\/revisions\/57059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}