The Central Bank and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation are trying to block external websites selling cryptocurrency

First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Sergey Shvetsov at the forum “The Russian Market for Derivative Financial Instruments” made a statement in which he outlined the position of the Central Bank on the websites where cryptocurrencies are sold, including stock exchanges. According to the official, these sites should be closed, since they represent a risk for ordinary citizens, comparable to financial pyramids like MMM.

“We regard all cryptocurrency derivatives as a negative phenomenon in our market and we do not consider it possible not only to support, but also make efforts to limit the ability of the regulated part of the Russian market to operate such instruments. At the same time, we are working with the Prosecutor General’s Office on the closure of external sites, which provide an opportunity for our citizens to acquire such assets, ”said Sergey Shvetsov.

The representative of the Central Bank directly compared Bitcoin with the pyramid: “These are tools with an ambiguous economic nature, lacking a legal description. We believe that for our citizens, businesses, the use of such cryptocurrencies as an object for investment carries unnecessarily increased risks. Moreover, we observe that bitcoin from a unit of account is gradually turning into an asset, which is acquired in order to obtain high profitability in a short-term period, that is, it shows signs of a financial pyramid, ”he said. - It is obvious that during the growth of the pyramid, interest in this pyramid is fueled by high yield. And we see the price dynamics of Bitcoin for the last two years. ”

Shvetsov also pointed to the low liquidity of bitcoins for holders of large packages: “This tool is quite low-liquid, it is almost impossible to get out of it,” he said .
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Sergei Shvetsov is not the first to take this position. Many critics have been comparing Bitcoin to a pyramid for several years: since when, in 2011, the exchange rate soared from ten cents to $ 1 per BTC .

The position of the official can be understood. Rumors about a certain digital currency, which is growing rapidly in price, have already gone to the people. It got to the point that illiterate citizens buy bitcoins from “intelligent gypsies” near the store, as it happened recently in Obninsk . In the media, it is noted that the bitcoins bought from the gypsies "turned out to be fake." Roma also claimed that the course of Bitcoin is constantly growing.


Photo of "fake" bitcoins from Obninsk

Naturally, the authorities are trying to protect financially illiterate citizens (and this is almost the entire population of Russia) from risky financial investments. Earlier, the head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, also stated that the mechanism for using cryptocurrency "has signs of a pyramid."

It is not entirely clear how the Central Bank of the Russian Federation intends to “close external sites”, where you can buy derivatives on cryptocurrency. Probably, we are talking about blocking these sites in the Russian Federation. In this case, the danger is also threatened by the popular WebMoney exchange wm.exchanger.ru , which sells the WMX derivative, the exchange rate of which corresponds to 0.001 BTC.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation has repeatedly advocated regulation and even the ban on cryptocurrency in Russia. It was even proposed to introduce a criminal punishment for the use of cryptocurrency. But no one really took seriously these proposals of the regulator, because the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy and the government did not support such radical measures.

But now the situation has changed. President Putin himself mentioned the position of the Central Bank : “In some countries, cryptocurrencies have become or become a full-fledged means of payment, as well as becoming an investment asset. At the same time, the use of cryptocurrency carries serious risks, I know the position of the Central Bank, - he said today at a meeting in Sochi. “First of all, this is the possibility of laundering of capital obtained by criminal means, tax evasion and even financing of terrorism, and, of course, the spread of fraudulent schemes, of which ordinary citizens can certainly become victims.”

There is a version that it was the laundering of capital through the giant Etherium mixer when withdrawing money, including from Russia, that contributed to a sharp rise in the rate of Etherium recently. Perhaps, at the meeting of Vitalik Buterin with Vladimir Putin , this issue was also discussed.

Although Putin did not talk about financial pyramids and blocking access to cryptocurrency sales sites, he definitely made it clear that more stringent regulation of this industry is needed: "Many countries are looking for approaches to how to regulate cryptocurrency circulation. and legislative regulatory framework. We need, based on international experience, to build a regulatory environment that will allow us to systematize relations in this area, ”Putin said.

As is known, the authorities recently announced an open tender for the provision of services for conducting expert-analytical research “Legislative regulation of the introduction and practical application of modern financial technologies. Analysis of international experience and modalities of adaptation in Russian practice ". The purpose of the study is to develop, on the basis of a critical analysis, foreign experience in the implementation and practical application of the latest financial technologies, models of their adaptation to use in the Russian financial market.