The Ministry of Finance called cryptocurrencies “evil”

Cryptocurrencies are evil, but they can be used in a number of cases, for example, for foreign trade settlements, Alexey Moiseev believes. The bill is already being considered in the Duma,which will establish a legal regime for this

Cryptocurrencies in general are evil, but they should be used where possible. This was stated by Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev at the conference of RBC and the NKR rating agency “Banks. Transformation. Economics . 2.0".

“Crypto is generally evil. I think that people who invest their savings there take a very big risk. [...] This is our position, which is common with the Central Bank,” Moiseev said.

There may be individual situations in which cryptocurrency can be used, Moiseev added: “There are a number of advantages. This is the absence of correspondent accounts, this is the ability to conduct transactions with lightning speed with little or no compliance in a number of countries, and so on and so forth. And this can and should be used where possible and possible. However, the use of cryptocurrencies to bypass sanctions locks is an illusion, since transactions in most popular cryptocurrencies are viewed by the financial intelligence of all countries, Moiseev believes.

He recalled that now the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets has begun consideration of the bill, which involves two key novelties. Firstly, cryptocurrency miners will be able to sell it, subject to the declaration and transparency of all operations. Secondly, an experimental legal regime will be established for conducting foreign trade settlements with cryptocurrency.

According to Moiseev, in the second case, a special committee will be created, which will include representatives of several ministries, the Bank of Russia and several law enforcement agencies. It will give permission to individual operators to use cryptocurrency in foreign trade settlements. “If the business comes and shows that they have built a settlement scheme in the crypt, then such a committee will be able to support such projects and they can be implemented,” Moiseev explained. However, this will require amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, he continued: “Now it is a gray zone, and if you paint part of this zone white and part black, then you have to guard the boundaries between white and black.”

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Operations with crypto-currencies are still not regulated in Russia, it is only forbidden to pay for goods and services with digital currency. In February 2022, the Bank of Russia developed a bill to ban the issuance and organization of circulation of private digital currency in the country. For violation of the established prohibitions, the Central Bank proposes to introduce administrative fines: for individuals, it can be set in the amount of 300-500 thousand rubles; for legal entities - from 700 thousand to 1 million rubles.

This ban caused a wide discussion in the market. In turn,  the Ministry of Finance did not agree with this point of view and also prepared its own concept, in which it proposed the regulation of cryptocurrencies, and not a ban on this market. In November 2022, a draft law on the legalization of cryptocurrency mining was submitted to the State Duma, it also regulates the use of cryptocurrencies in international settlements for exporters who are now experiencing problems with settlements through traditional financial channels.