The Russian bitcoin ban plan is on indefinite hold

Earlier this month Alexei Moiseev, the Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation, stated that the spread of bitcoin in Russia does not represent a threat the country’s financial ecosystem, at its current rate of adoption. As such, the plan to ban the cryptocurrency is now paused.

Moiseev had primarily spearheaded the Russian Finance Ministry’s intent to ban bitcoin beginning two years ago in 2014. At the time, he deemed bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as “surrogate currencies” – a narrative that has stuck to this day – while stating that the law to ban bitcoin will be passed in 2014, or 2015, at the latest. Such a law has not come to pass.