Government officials made contrasted statements on cryptocurrencies earlier this week at the Gaidar Forum, a yearly conference and elite gathering sometimes dubbed ‘the Russian Davos.’
Thus, Vice Prime Minister Maxim Akimov did not hide his skepticism about digital coins “as currencies,” while Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that their volatility was “not a reason to ‘bury’ them.”
“As with any social phenomenon, any economic institution, there are both bright sides and dark sides,” the news agency TASS quoted him as saying.
Russia should carefully follow the evolutions of cryptocurrencies, the Prime Minister added.
However, no statements came to back the recent allegations of Vladislav Ginko, a Russian economist, according to which Russia was about to invest billions in bitcoin as part of its dedollarization policy.
Ginko’s claim was quoted in multiple reports, including some cryptocurrency websites and mainstream outlets, without being substantiated, as noted by Bitcoin.com.
Meanwhile, the Russian parliament is preparing a bill to regulate to regulate digital financial assets, including cryptocurrencies and ICOs. Its adoption, which was postponed several times, is scheduled for the spring parliamentary session of this year.
