Is Russia wavering on its anti-Bitcoin stance?

Russia’s central bank offered a formal response to a letter written by a Russian citizen in February asking for more information on why the government allegedly banned cryptocurrencies earlier this year.

The bank contends that it did not ban Bitcoin outright but was committed to “combating crimes in the sphere of the economy devoted to the use of anonymous payment systems and cryptocurrencies on the territory of Russia.”

That doesn’t quite align with a February statement from the general prosecutor’s office: “The anonymous payment systems and crypto-currencies, including bitcoin – which is the most popular of them – are monetary surrogates. As such, their use by private citizens or legal entities is not allowed.”