The Russian central bank continues its strict policies regarding the cryptocurrency industry, now officially banning mutual funds from investing in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC). On Dec. 13, the Bank of Russia published an official statement on regulating investment opportunities by mutual investment funds. Despite expanding the number of assets available for investment by mutual funds, the document prohibits fund managers from buying cryptocurrencies as well as “financial instruments whose value depends on prices of digital assets.” The statement emphasizes that mutual funds are not allowed to provide crypto exposure both to either qualified or unqualified investors. The Bank of Russia …

After the Chinese authorities introduced a complete ban on cryptocurrency transactions in September by equating them to illegal financial activity, local cryptocurrency miners either dropped off the radar or moved to other countries in order to continue with their business. The United States subsequently became the leader in terms of Bitcoin (BTC) mining volumes with a share of 35.4%. Modest Kazakhstan is currently in second place (18.1%), and the bronze spot was secured by Russia (11.23%). It’s not surprising because Russia has several advantages, meaning that conducting crypto business in the country is extremely lucrative for almost any miner. There …

Sber, Russia’s largest bank, is apparently struggling to obtain a regulatory approval for its digital asset issuance platform as the company continues delaying registration plans. Sber CEO Herman Gref announced Dec. 7 that the bank now expects to get its digital asset issuance platform registered with the Bank of Russia by the end of 2021, local news agency Prime reported. "We are in constant contact with the central bank, and we are discussing various issues. We really want to believe that the platform will be registered by the end of this year,” Gref said. The new comments come almost a …

Russian people are among the world’s most active participants of the cryptocurrency market, according to the country’s central bank. The Bank of Russia published a fresh review on financial stability on Nov. 25, pointing out the country’s growing role in the $2.8 trillion market. Citing estimations reported by major local banks in July 2021, the Bank of Russia suggested that the total annual volumes of crypto transactions of the Russian population amount to 350 billion rubles, or $5 billion USD. It appears to be unclear whether the Bank of Russia has converted these estimations as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) …

The Russian central bank continues disclosing more details about its upcoming digital currency, now reportedly planning to take commissions for the digital ruble transactions. The fees for Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) transactions will be lower than those of wire transfers, Bank of Russia’s director of financial technologies department Kirill Pronin reportedly said. Pronin elaborated that the CBDC transactions’ commissions will not be higher than those implemented within Russia’s Faster Payments System (FPS), a service that lets individuals make instant interbank transfers, the local publication Prime reported Wednesday. The FPS system was launched in 2019, allowing users to transfer …

The Bank of Russia will only fully adopt a central bank digital currency (CBDC) if the digital ruble meets several conditions within pilot tests, governor Elvira Nabiullina said. Nabiullina spoke of the digital ruble before the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets on Monday, disclosing more details about the CBDC rollout, local news agency Interfax reported. The Bank of Russia will only adopt the CBDC after the bank makes sure that rubles can be easily converted from cash into the digital ruble and non-cash, and only at a one-to-one ratio, she said. “It should be a real full-fledged ruble, no …

On Tuesday, the governor of Russia's Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, said that the country will have a prototype of its digital rouble platform ready by early 2022 and will roll it out for trial use next year before making a final decision on whether or not to release its own digital currency, according to a Reuters report. Meanwhile, Russian lawmakers will reportedly begin working on the legal adjustments needed to implement the digital ruble plan to accommodate the digital currency. According to Izvestia, the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market head Anatoly Aksakov stated that these legal modifications would …

Bitcoin (BTC) appears to lack the strength to retest the $67,000 all-time high that it reached on Oct. 20 and this is causing investors to question whether or not the bullish moment has faded. Even with the price facing these hurdles, it’s still premature to call the $58,000 support level test the beginning of a descending channel. Among the factors limiting the rally is the regulatory uncertainty in the United States. Anne Termine, a partner in the government enforcement and investigations practice at Bracewell LLP and former chief trial attorney at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said that “there …

Tinkoff Investments, the online brokerage of major Russian private bank Tinkoff, is researching cryptocurrency investment services despite the Bank of Russia withholding the bank from launching such tools. Tinkoff Investments head Dmitry Panchenko claimed that the bank’s brokerage portal is considering projects related to cryptocurrency investment but it’s too early to discuss specific ideas. The company is now working on research and development initiatives targeting a range of crypto-related services, Panchenko said in an Oct. 28 interview with local news agency TASS. Tinkoff Investments is specifically looking at crypto products by companies like international payment giant PayPal, as well as …

The Russian cryptocurrency market has grown to hundreds of billions of dollars despite the absence of sufficient cryptocurrency regulation, according to a major industry executive. Sergei Khitrov, founder of the Russian cryptocurrency event Blockchain Life, gave a keynote speech on the state of cryptocurrency regulation in Russia at the VII Blockchain Life Forum in Moscow on Oct. 27. Based on his own industry insights and knowledge of the market, Khitrov estimated the Russian crypto market to be worth as much as 40 trillion rubles, or more than $550 billion. He also claimed that Russian crypto businesses could generate as much …

Despite Russian officials' increased interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russia’s internet ombudsman expressed confidence that local crypto regulations will remain largely prohibitive. Dmitry Marinichev, Russia’s ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights under Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Wednesday discussed Russia’s approach to cryptocurrency regulations at a panel of a major local industry event, Blockchain Life 2021. Russia will continue taking a restrictive stance on crypto because the Russian government doesn’t want Russian people to make money with Bitcoin, Marinichev said: “I’m sure that Russian crypto policies will always be prohibitive because no one is looking to allow Russian …

Despite Russia adopting its first cryptocurrency law in January 2021, the country’s cryptocurrency market is still largely unregulated and is associated with a lot of uncertainty, according to a local industry advocate. Yury Pripachkin, head of the Russian Association of Cryptoindustry and Blockchain (RACIB), argued that the existing Russian crypto regulations are nothing more than “half-measures” that have nothing to do with systematic solutions. In an interview with local news agency RBC, Pripachkin referred to Russian President Vladimir Putin issuing multiple consecutive mandates to adopt crypto regulation over the past four years. The executive highlighted that the total market capitalization …