About a week ago, Russia’s central bank – the Central Bank of Russia Federation proposed banning Bitcoin and its related operations in the country citing a number of reasons for its proposal including threats to financial stability, the country’s monetary policy sovereignty, the wellbeing of citizens, etc. The issue of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining has been a controversial debate in the country among lawmakers and various ministries who all seem to have several opinions on the matter.
Last weekend, Bitcoin slumped below $35,000 following Russia’s proposal to ban the cryptocurrency.
On Wednesday, Russia’s President Vladmir Putin shared his opinion on the proposal from the central bank. President Vladimir Putin is of the opinion that Bitcoin mining could be beneficial to the country as Russia has distinctive characteristics that’ll help the country make gains from Bitcoin mining. The President has also asked the central bank to come to a consensus with the country’s Ministry of Finance on how to move forward on the matter. Earlier this week, the Ministry of Finance spoke against a complete ban on Bitcoin mining and trading emphasizing that the move would only be detrimental to the country as it would decimate the country’s ability to compete in the global technology sector.
In his meeting with members of the Russian Government on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin while addressing the varying opinions of government bodies and the central bank said that “The Central Bank does not stand in our way of technological progress and makes the necessary efforts to implement the latest technology in this area”, adding that the central bank’s concern is only borne out of concerns that “the expansion of this type of activity carries certain risks, and above all for the citizens of the country, given the large volatility and some other components of this topic”.
The President didn’t stop there. He mentioned that the country had a surplus of power and “well-trained manpower” which could be leveraged to create a thriving Bitcoin mining industry in the country. “…of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining”, he said.
El Salvador which is the only country to legally adopt Bitcoin as money has been warned by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rescind its decision. The body says that the pending danger in allowing Bitcoin thrive in the country as a legal tender are huge but President Nayib Bukele seems to know what he is doing as he is currently building a city based on Bitcoin called “Bitcoin City”.
