October 10, 2017, 18:32 / Finance

Putin listed the risks of cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies are becoming a full-fledged means of payment, but carry serious risks of laundering and terrorist financing, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on cryptocurrencies in Sochi.

“Cryptocurrencies in some countries have become or are becoming a full-fledged means of payment, and are also becoming an investment asset. At the same time, the use of cryptocurrencies also carries serious risks, I know the position of the Central Bank,” Putin said.

“First of all, this is the possibility of laundering capital obtained by criminal means, tax evasion and even financing of terrorism,” he listed. “And, of course, the spread of fraudulent schemes, the victims of which, of course, can be ordinary citizens.”

The President recalled that cryptocurrencies are issued by an unlimited number of anonymous entities. “As such, cryptocurrency buyers may be involved in illegal activities. In addition, there is no collateral for cryptocurrencies,” he noted. According to him, if the system fails “or bubbles are inflated, as it is sometimes fashionable to say now, there will be no legally responsible entity for them.”

“We need, based on international experience, to build a regulatory environment that will allow us to systematize relations in this area,” Putin said. At the same time, “it is important not to create unnecessary barriers,” he noted.

The Bank of Russia and its chairman Elvira Nabiullina are opposed to cryptocurrencies as a means of currency in Russia. Among other things, the Central Bank would like to limit the operation of external sites where you can buy cryptocurrency. “We believe that for our citizens and businesses, the use of such cryptocurrencies as an investment object carries unreasonably increased risks,” First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Sergei Shvetsov said today.

The Ministry of Finance, represented by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, is in favor of regulating the cryptocurrency market: in particular, for individuals, the purchase of cryptocurrencies should be similar to the purchase of federal loan bonds, he said. The Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia, German Gref, calls for soft regulation of cryptocurrency using blockchain technology. “We need to regulate very carefully so as not to strangle this extremely promising technology in the arms of regulation,” he said during the Eastern Economic Forum.

The meeting with Putin in Sochi includes Nabiullina with her deputy Olga Skorobogatova, Siluanov, presidential assistant Andrei Belousov, CEO of Qiwi , head of the Association for the Development of Financial Technologies Sergei Solonin.